Chapter 14 - My Father's Desk
Vale Meridian eventually renovated the executive floor.
Everyone wanted to replace Dad's old office.
I refused.
Not because I wanted a museum.
Because his desk still had scratches from when I did homework there as a child.
One afternoon, while clearing a cabinet, I discovered another letter.
My name was written across the envelope.
Inside, Dad had written:
Evelyn, if you're reading this because someone has disappointed you, remember that disappointment isn't the end of love. Sometimes it is the end of illusion. Those are not the same thing.
I sat at his desk for a long time.
For years, I thought loving Julian had made me foolish.
It hadn't.
Trusting someone is not stupidity simply because they betray it.
What mattered was what I did once the truth arrived.
I had chosen myself.
Not perfectly.
Not painlessly.
May you like
But finally.
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