Chapter 10 - The New Dawn
One year later.
The morning sun rose bright and warm over the Pacific coastline.
I stood on the deck of my father’s old wooden sailboat, three miles off the coast of Malibu. The deep blue water sparkled beneath the clear blue sky, the cool sea breeze whipping through my hair.
Clara stood at the bow, holding a dark marble urn containing our father’s ashes.
We had waited until the storm of the trial, the media circus, and the corporate restructuring had completely died down. We had waited until we were whole again.
Clara looked back at me, nodding softly.
I walked over to the bow, standing beside her, placing my hand over hers on the cold stone urn.
Together, we tipped the urn over the carved wooden railing.
A cloud of fine gray ash caught the ocean wind, swirling gracefully in the air for a brief second, before settling gently onto the surface of the sparkling blue water, dissolving seamlessly into the vast, endless sea.
“Rest in peace, Dad,” I whispered into the wind. “The truth won. Your children are safe.”
Clara leaned her head against my shoulder, watching the ripples fade into the blue horizon.
For the first time in two years, the heavy weight in my chest completely vanished. The ghosts of Bel-Air, the poisonous silk dresses, the blood on the marble staircase, and the terror of that dark night were all gone—replaced by the clean, quiet whisper of the ocean.
My phone chimed softly in my jacket pocket.
May you like
It was a text from Agent Marcus Vance: The Sterling assets have been fully liquidated. Vance Logistics is officially clean. See you at dinner, kids.
I slipped the phone back into my pocket, wrapped my arm around my sister’s shoulders, and turned the sailboat back toward the sunlit shore—heading home to start our real lives.
