---- Chapter 44 Liv woke slowly, disoriented, a dull ache in her head. She was in her bed on the island. Sunlight streamed through the window. The storm had passed. Her mother was there, her face pale, her eyes red-rimmed. "Mom? What... what happened?" Liv's voice was raspy. "You fell, darling," Elizabeth said, her voice carefully neutral. "Near the cliffs. You hit your head. But you're alright. The doctor has seen you." "Finn?" Liv asked, panic rising. "Where's Finn?" "He's safe, sweetheart. Sleeping in the nursery." Liv tried to sit up, but a wave of dizziness hit her. "Serena... Michael..." "Serena has been taken care of," Elizabeth said, her voice hardening. "She won't bother anyone ever again. The authorities have her. Her fabricated stories unraveled completely. She's facing serious charges." "And Michael?" Liv pressed. Elizabeth hesitated. "Michael... Michael left, Liv. He realized... he realized it was best." A fabricated story. To protect her. But Liv wasn't a fool. She saw the grief in her mother's eyes, the carefully constructed calm of the household staff. Later that day, drifting in and out of a medicated sleep, she ---- overheard hushed voices from the hallway. Her father and Jennings. "Coast Guard recovered her body this morning... Serena Cole "...no sign of him... Michael Thorne... declared lost at sea..." "heroic, in the end... saved Miss Olivia, saved the child..." Lost at sea. Michael was dead. He had saved her. He had saved Finn. The truth, stark and devastating, settled over her. Silent grief, profound and complex, welled up. He had been a monster, a liar, a cheat. But in his very last moments, he had been a hero. He had made the ultimate sacrifice. The irony was a bitter, painful pill. Relief for Serena's capture was overshadowed by the weight of Michael's final act.