---- Chapter 20 My departure was scheduled for early morning. Elizabeth had arranged for me to sign some final transfer documents at a discreet downtown notary public before heading to the private airfield. As | was leaving the notary's office, a sleek black SUV pulled up. Michael jumped out. Serena was in the passenger seat, looking furious. Richard and another of Michael's cronies were in the back. He must have been tracking my lawyer or having me followed. "Olivia!" Michael strode towards me, his face a mask of outrage. "What do you think you're doing? Trying to flee the state?" "I'm going on a trip, Michael," | said calmly. "It's none of your business." Serena burst out of the car, rushing towards me, her face contorted. "You witch! You're trying to stop our wedding! You're trying to ruin everything!" She lunged, but Richard, surprisingly, caught her arm. "Serena, calm down!" Michael ignored her histrionics. "My lawyer called. You've filed for divorce. And you're trying to seize company assets!" ---- "They're my assets, Michael," | corrected. "Assets you wouldn't have if it weren't for me and my mother." The stress of the confrontation sent a familiar twinge through my abdomen. | pressed a hand to my side, trying to remain composed. Serena saw the gesture and her eyes narrowed. She suddenly sagged against Richard, clutching her chest. "Oh! My heart! The stress! She's doing this to me deliberately! Michael, she wants me dead!" It was such a transparently fake performance, yet Michael's attention immediately shifted to her. "Serena! Baby, are you okay?" He glared at me. "See what you're doing, Olivia? You're incorrigible!" Their accusations, their staged drama, it all felt so distant now. | looked at Michael, at his frantic concern for Serena, his blind fury at me. There was nothing left. No anger, no pain. Just a vast, empty space where my love for him used to be. "Goodbye, Michael," | said, my voice devoid of inflection. | turned and walked towards the waiting car Elizabeth had arranged. This time, | didn't look back. | could hear Serena wailing, Michael yelling. Let them yell As my car pulled away, | saw Michael standing on the sidewalk, watching me go. For the first time, | saw not anger, but a flicker of something ---- else in his eyes. Unease. Dawning comprehension. Perhaps even a hint of loss. Too little, too late. My emigration from his life was final. The bitterness he felt was his own to swallow.