Chapter 10 - The Epilogue
One year to the day after Penelope’s disastrous wedding, the Gotham Botanical Gardens greenhouse played host to another event.
There were no flashbulbs, no society reporters, no guest list curated by PR consultants, and no artificial fairy lights meant to blind people to the rot underneath.
It was an intimate, private ceremony held at sunset beneath vaulted glass ceilings draped with white orchids—the exact same flowers that had floated in the fountain the night my old life died.
Only twenty people were in attendance. Trusted friends, brilliant colleagues from the financial world who valued intellect over inheritance, and people who had stood by me when my own family tried to erase me.
My mother didn't come, claiming a sudden migraine that conveniently excused her from facing the daughter she had abandoned.
I didn't care.
I wore a simple, elegant ivory silk dress that I had chosen myself—no clearance racks, no forced aesthetics, just a reflection of who I actually was.
As I walked down the aisle on the arm of my closest friend and mentor, the string quartet played a soft, beautiful melody that felt light, warm, and entirely unburdened.
Standing at the altar waiting for me was Blake.
He wore a dark charcoal suit, his hair slightly touched by the evening breeze, his glacial blue eyes shining with a depth of love and devotion that still occasionally took my breath away.
When I reached his side, he took my hands in his. His grip was warm, firm, and absolute.
“You look breathtaking,” Blake whispered softly, lifting my veil with gentle fingers.
“Thank you,” I smiled, my heart swelling with a profound sense of peace.
As the officiant began the ceremony, I glanced briefly toward the marble fountain in the center of the courtyard. The water was crystal clear, rippling gently in the evening air, reflecting the warm glow of the setting sun.
I didn't feel anger when I looked at it anymore. I didn't feel hurt, or rejection, or the desperate need to prove my worth to people who were blind.
I had stopped trying to fit into a family built on glass and lies.
Because I had built something infinitely stronger, richer, and more enduring with the man standing beside me.
May you like
We said our vows without hesitation. We exchanged simple platinum rings that meant everything because we had chosen them together.
And as Blake pulled me close and kissed me beneath the Manhattan sky, I knew that the asteroid had finally found its true orbit—not as something cold and invisible floating in the dark, but as the center of a world built entirely by our own hands.
