I Dropped The Bidder To Keep My Empire Chapter 10
Three years later.
Under my leadership, the Vance Group had become the most powerful family in Harbor Heights.
The news came back that Ashley had worked herself into an early grave on that fishing trawler. I was picking out a crib with Beckett when we heard.
I didn’t say anything. I just had someone buy her the cheapest burial plot they could find.
Landon dropped out of the scene completely. Rumor had it he went to teach in some remote mountain village. Spending the rest of his life trying to atone.
Lucas was in a race. He didn’t hit the brakes on purpose. Both legs were gone. He’d spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.
Grant kept that torn notebook. Half out of his mind, telling anyone within earshot that he’d lost the one person who’d ever truly cared about him.
As for Derek.
He never got married. He watched the Channing empire go down the drain.
Every year, he showed up at the auction.
He never raised his paddle anymore. He just stared at the tiaras on stage.
Once, I ran into him at a cocktail party.
He tried to say something to me. But the look in my eyes—like he was a stranger—made him back off.
I just gave him a small nod. Like you would to a total stranger.
Then I took Beckett’s arm and walked into the bright, dazzling lights.
Beckett leaned down and asked me softly, “Any regrets?”
I shook my head. Firm. Then I held his hand tighter.
“No regrets. They got what they deserved.”
The Harbor Heights night sky was beautiful. Calm. Comforting.
Everyone who had ever hurt me was finally crushed under my heel.
My mother’s tiara was back in the Vance safe.
But this time, it wasn’t proof of my place as heir.
It was my victory medal. My glory.
The wish lanterns burned out. The fog lifted.
I’d finally waited long enough for my own grand, wide-awake life.