Chapter 18 - The Unfinished Business
Everything felt complete, but then came the final loose end.
Monica.
She had been a shadow in my marriage, a tool for Ethan, and a woman who had tried to build a life on top of my own destruction.
But she was also a victim.
She had been used, discarded, and then prosecuted for crimes she didn't fully comprehend.
I found her in a small, cramped apartment, living on the edge of the city.
She was working a retail job, looking entirely defeated.
When I entered, she looked up, terrified.
"I have nothing left to give," she whispered.
"I’m not here to take," I said.
"What are you here for?"
I sat down.
"I’m here to offer you a way out."
She stared at me.
"Why?"
"Because you were just as much a puppet as I was. Ethan used you, and he used me."
"I destroyed your marriage."
"I destroyed his life. We're even."
I handed her a folder.
"There's a job here for you. Not in the firm. Not in the foundation. In the archive."
She looked at me, stunned.
"It’s honest work. It’s quiet. It pays well."
"Why would you do this?"
"Because I want to show you that there is a different way."
She looked at the folder, then at me.
"I’ll take it."
"I knew you would."
I walked out of the room, feeling a strange, hollow sense of resolution.
I had reached out to the person who had once been my greatest threat and offered her the same path I had chosen.
She could take it or leave it.
May you like
But I had done my part.
The ledger was balanced.
