Chapter 13: The Final Cleanse
The guards escorted a weeping, hysterical Vanessa out of the building.
As the door closed, Daniel stepped out from the adjoining side office. He had heard the entire exchange.
He walked over to my desk, looking down at the ruined flash drive sitting at the bottom of my coffee cup. A small, genuinely impressed smile touched his lips.
"Remind me never to play poker with you," Daniel murmured.
"She was desperate," I said, wiping a drop of spilled coffee from the mahogany wood. "Desperate people make terrible negotiators."
Daniel looked at me, his expression softening. The arrogance of the man I had married years ago was completely gone. He was grounded, humble, and fiercely protective of what we had built.
"I didn't know she was going to Chicago," Daniel said quietly. "I didn't tell you because I didn't want to bring that toxicity back into your life. I handled it."
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"I know you did," I replied, meeting his eyes. "I never doubted you. Not anymore."
It was a profound moment of closure. The ghosts of our past—Eleanor, Vanessa, the lies, the betrayal—were officially dead and buried. We had walked through the fire, and we had not burned. We had forged ourselves into something stronger.
