Chapter 10 - The Unbroken Horizon
The sun began its slow descent toward the western horizon, casting a long, golden light across the stone terrace of Villa Claire.
I stood alone by the edge of the infinity pool, listening to the rhythmic, soothing crash of the waves against the cliffs below.
My phone buzzed on the table.
I walked over and picked it up.
It was a text message from an automated prison inmate communication portal.
Inmate Madison Vance has requested a visitation appointment for Tuesday at 2:00 PM. Do you accept?
I stared at the screen for a long moment.
I thought about the plate of hot pasta hitting my face. I thought about the bitter rage in Madison's eyes when she stood in my dining room, calling me selfish. I thought about the cold calculation in her voice when she told her accomplice to make sure everything was gone before I arrived.
She didn't want to see me because she felt remorse. She wanted to see me because she wanted me to use my millions to hire her a high-priced defense attorney. She wanted me to save her, just as she had expected my father to save her.
She still believed that family was a shield for cruelty.
I slowly raised my thumb and tapped the screen.
DECLINE REQUEST.
BLOCK ALL FUTURE NOTIFICATIONS FROM THIS SENDER.
A profound sense of peace washed over my chest as the screen went dark.
I placed the phone face down on the table, picked up my paintbrush, and stepped back up to my easel.
The ocean before me was vast, wild, and completely free.
There were no secrets hidden beneath the floorboards anymore. There were no fake smiles, no backhanded compliments, no greed masked as sisterly love.
May you like
I dipped my brush into a dollop of bright gold paint and touched it to the canvas, sweeping a brilliant stroke of light across the ocean horizon.
My life was finally my own. And as the cool evening breeze swept across the cliffside, I knew that no one would ever throw a plate in my face again.
