Chapter 5: The Exit
The walk to the lobby was the longest of Richard’s life. Every employee stopped to watch, not with sympathy, but with the curiosity reserved for the fallen.
At the glass revolving doors, Elena stood waiting. She looked regal, untouchable, the whiskey stain on her shirt now nothing more than a footnote in a long, brutal history. She reached into her bag and pulled out a pair of black sunglasses.
She put them on, the dark lenses obscuring her eyes, shielding her from the weak, pleading gaze of the man who had raised her.
"One final command," she said, her voice cold as a winter morning.
Richard stopped, looking at her.
May you like
"Don't call me," she said, turning on her heel. "And definitely don't look back."
She stepped into her car, the engine purring to life as she was driven away into the city. She didn't look at the building she had just conquered. She was already thinking about tomorrow’s market open. The family argument was over; the empire was secure. And for the first time in her life, the silence wasn't something to be feared—it was something she owned.
