Chapter 5: The Exit Strategy
The house was a hive of activity. Officers were packing boxes, not of personal items, but of evidence.
Elena walked out the front door, wearing the same dress she had worn at dinner, but now she wore it like armor. She stopped at the bottom of the steps, where a black car was waiting. Julian was being led out in handcuffs, his head bowed, his tailored suit rumpled and stained with the spilled wine from his own tantrum. He looked up, his eyes meeting hers—begging, pleading, hollow.
Elena didn't blink. She didn't gloat. She simply opened the car door and stepped inside.
"Where to, ma'am?" the driver asked.
May you like
"To the airport," Elena said, pulling a new phone from her bag. She didn't look back at the villa. She didn't look back at the man who had tried to break her. She was already looking at the next project. "And clear my schedule for the week. I’m finally off the clock."
As the car pulled away, the house—the symbol of her cage—faded into the distance. She had walked in as a captive, but she left as the woman who owned the keys to the city. The silence in the car was finally hers, and it was glorious.
