Chương 16 - The Life They Almost Lost
The foundation opened six months later.
Families lined the lobby.
Ivan recognized their expressions.
Fear hidden beneath paperwork.
Parents pretending everything would somehow work.
He had been them.
Fiona, healthier now, helped hand out welcome packets.
Jessi watched her from across the room.
“She changed you,” Ivan said.
“Who?”
“You know who.”
Jessi smiled.
“She changed both of us.”
Adrian arrived quietly.
His relationship with Jessi remained fragile.
But he had testified against Victor and entered treatment for gambling addiction.
Healing wasn't forgiveness.
Not yet.
But it was movement.
Marcus recovered too.
For once, the Sterling family gathered without plotting against one another.
That evening, Jessi stood before a mirror examining her scars.
Ivan entered.
She didn't cover herself.
That mattered.
“Do you ever wish they were gone?” he asked.
“Every day.”
She looked again.
“Less than I used to.”
Ivan didn't tell her the scars were beautiful.
He knew she didn't need romantic clichés.
They were simply part of her.
Evidence that someone had tried to break her.
And failed.
Jessi turned.
“Fiona asked me something.”
“That sounds dangerous.”
“She asked if I'm going to marry you.”
Ivan nearly dropped his glass.
“What did you say?”
“I told her to ask you.”
“You coward.”
“Strategist.”
Ivan laughed.
But later that night, the question remained in his mind.
May you like
Not because Fiona had asked it.
Because for the first time since Laura died, Ivan could imagine a future without feeling guilty for wanting one.
