---- Chapter 12 Olivia POV: The initial shock of Ethan's death fades, leaving behind a profound sense of finality. The Don's ghost has been laid to rest. Maya calls with an update. Chloe survived, but she's paralyzed from the waist down. A direct casualty of the family war Ethan started. "She's suing his family's estate," Maya says. "Telling the press he was drunk and high, that he caused the crash." It's her own form of Vendetta, a desperate attempt at revenge from her wheelchair. This distant drama feels like it's happening on another planet. My focus is on my work. Carter Creative Designs is nominated for a regional award. My legitimate empire is thriving. One afternoon, while cleaning out old digital files, | find a USB drive. It's filled with old photos of Ethan and me. Happy, smiling, oblivious. | look at the face of the young woman in the pictures, so full of hope and naive trust. | feel a wave of compassion for her, for the girl | used to be. | find one photo of myself, alone, laughing on a beach. It was before things got complicated. | look truly free. | copy that ---- single image to my desktop. Then, | select all the other files on the drive and press delete. A final cleansing. At the awards ceremony, | wear a simple, elegant gown. Ben is by my side, his pride in me radiating like warmth. He is the anchor of my Found Family. When they announce Carter Creative Designs as the winner, my heart soars. | walk onto the stage, the applause a wave of validation. This is real success, built with my own hands. | am a Mafia Queen in my own right. After the ceremony, Maya shows me her phone. Chloe Vance is on the cover of a magazine, rebranded as a tragic survivor and advocate. She's started a foundation for victims of reckless driving. Her own path to redemption, her own form of power. "Good for her," | say, and | mean it. We both found our way out from under the Don's shadow. A week later, a certified letter arrives from a law firm in New York. It's about Ethan's estate. Apparently, there was a small, forgotten joint account in our names. I'm entitled to a few thousand dollars, the dregs of his illegally-funded life. | sign the enclosed document, waiving all claims to the money, severing the last financial link to the Reed family. | don't want their blood money. ---- Dropping it into the mailbox is a feeling of absolute freedom.