---- Chapter 23 Emily POV: The public backlash was swift and brutal. The same people who had championed #JusticeForDallas now turned on her with a vengeance. They felt duped, manipulated, their compassion exploited for a liar's personal gain. Her empire of smoke and mirrors crumbled overnight. Brands dropped her, her talk show appearances were canceled, and her social media comments were flooded with vitriol. Even her wealthy, influential family publicly disowned her, eager to distance themselves from the scandal. She tried to do one last live broadcast to plead her case, but she was met with a tidal wave of mockery and rage. Her account was reported so many times for spreading misinformation that it was permanently suspended. She was de-platformed, erased from the digital world she had once ruled. The last | heard of Dallas Lucas was a rumor from an old acquaintance. She had latched onto a newly-rich, married tech bro, but his wife had found out. The confrontation, apparently, had been violent, leaving Dallas with a permanent scar across her "perfect" face. The tech bro, fearing a scandal, had thrown her out with nothing. She was last seen, the rumor went, ---- begging for change on a street corner, a ghost of the golden girl she used to be. With the last of the ghosts finally laid to rest, | felt a sense of peace settle over me for the first time in years. | returned to Paris, to the quiet apartment overlooking the Seine, to Josiah. Life became simple. Quiet. We'd have breakfast at our little wooden table, the morning sun streaming through the window. We worked, we took long walks along the river, we read books side-by-side in comfortable silence. It was the ordinary, peaceful life | had always craved. One morning, as | was reading the paper, | felt his eyes on me. | looked up to see him watching me with that same tender, gentle expression he' d had the first day we met at the airport. "l'll always be here, you know," he said softly. "For as long as you'll have me." | put down my paper, my heart feeling full and light. | looked at this kind, patient, wonderful man who had waited for me for eight years, who had pulled me from the darkest moment of my life and gently guided me back into the light. "Okay," | said, a slow smile spreading across my face. "Let's give it a try." Josiah's eyes widened. He shot up from his chair so quickly he knocked over his coffee cup, sending a brown puddle spreading across the table. He barely noticed. He just stared at me, a look of pure, unadulterated joy on his face. ---- "Really?" he breathed. | laughed. "Really." Seeing him, the unflappable, brilliant Josiah Slater, so completely flustered and overjoyed, made my heart do a little flip. In that moment, | realized something profound. | was the only person in the world who could make him lose his composure. And | loved it. Dating Josiah was a revelation. The man who was a titan in the boardroom was an absolute disaster in love. He was clingy and sweet, sending me streams of cute animal GIFs if | didn't text him back within the hour. He was also ridiculously jealous, once pouting for an entire evening because | had smiled a little too long at a handsome waiter. Three months into our wonderfully clumsy and sweet relationship, he proposed. He did it in the apartment, after a simple dinner we had cooked together. He got down on one knee, his face serious and his ears bright red. He held out a small velvet box containing a stunning, flawless pink diamond. But that wasn't all he held out. In his other hand was a thick legal document. "It's a pre-nuptial agreement," he said, his voice trembling slightly. "It transfers all of my personal assets, my shares in the company, everything, unconditionally into your name upon ---- our marriage." | stared at him, speechless. "| want you to have everything, Emily," he said, his voice thick with emotion. "| want you to know that you never, ever have to depend on anyone ever again. | want you to have a safety net so strong that nothing can ever break you." Tears welled in my eyes. It wasn't about the money. It was about the sentiment. It was about the profound, unshakeable sense of security that came not from wealth, but from being loved by someone so completely, so selflessly. | took the ring from the box, my hand shaking. | had thought my heart was too broken to ever love again, that | was destined to be alone. But Josiah, with his quiet patience and unwavering kindness, had shown me that new beginnings were possible. He had taught me how to hope again.