---- Chapter 15 Olivia POV: "| found his old journals from college," Sarah says over the phone. "And letters. They were all about a girl named Ava. He wrote about her like she was the sun." The memory of the journal Ben gave me, the one | threw in the trash, surfaces. The poetry that felt so real. "| just need to know," Sarah pleads. "Was that person real? Was there ever a time when he was good, before... before the family, the Omerta, twisted him into what he became?" | think for a long moment, looking at the vibrant roses blooming in my garden. "Yes," | say, my voice softer than | expected. "A long time ago, before the absolute authority of his position consumed him, there was a part of him that was genuine. Or at least, he was very good at making it seem that way. A sob of relief comes from the other end of the line. "Thank you," she whispers. "He was a complicated man, Sarah," | say, choosing my words carefully. "He was capable of great passion and great cruelty. He was a Don who broke his own code, and it destroyed him." ---- "| just wish it could have been different for him," she says. "Me too," | admit, a surprising pang of sorrow for the waste of it all. When we hang up, a profound calm settles over me. It feels as if the last ghost of the Don's world has finally been put to rest. A few weeks later, Ben and | are in a small cabin on the Oregon coast, celebrating our fifth wedding anniversary. We got married in our garden, a small, perfect ceremony that was the true founding of our Found Family. That night, by the fire, he hands me a small, velvet box. | open it. It's a locket. On one side is a tiny, recent photo of Ben. On the other is a picture | haven't seen in years. It's me, younger, laughing on a beach. It's the photo | saved from the USB drive. Tears spring to my eyes. "How did you...?" "Maya," he says with a smile. "A secret Consigliere operation." | look at the picture of the young woman, the Caged Canary who dreamed of love, and then at the face of the man who gave me the real thing. | realize then that Ava Miller wasn't erased. She was integrated. Her journey, her pain, her survival -they are all part of the strength of Olivia Carter. "It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," | whisper. ---- He kisses me. "To my resilient, joyful hummingbird," he says, referencing the first gift he ever gave me. A deep, unshakable sense of contentment fills me. | am home. | am loved. | am free. Sunlight streams into my Portland studio, the heart of my powerful, legitimate empire. My days are quiet now, filled with a deep satisfaction Ethan Reed's name rarely crosses my mind anymore. He is a closed chapter in a life that is still being written. My story. And it's a story about resilience, hope, and the quiet, enduring power of a love that sets you free. A story about a woman who was handed a life of gilded servitude and chose to design a different one for herself | look around my studio, at the life | have built, the man | love, the peace | have earned. | am exactly where | am supposed to be. | am a Queen, living in a world of my own making. And it is beautiful.