Chapter 10 - THE LAST SIGNATURE
The divorce was finalized on a Tuesday in October.
I sat in Arthur's office,
the final papers resting on the mahogany desk.
"Are you ready,
Vivienne?"
Arthur asked,
handing me a pen.
It wasn't a silver Montblanc.
It was a simple black pen,
functional and honest.
"I've been ready for a long time,"
I said.
I signed my name for the last time as Vivienne Hale.
Vivienne Bellamy.
The name felt right.
The name felt like home.
I walked out of the office and into the crisp autumn air.
The city was alive,
the people rushing by with their own stories,
their own secrets.
I hailed a taxi and went to the airport.
I was going to London,
to visit the branch of the company my father had started.
I wanted to see the world,
not as a wife,
but as a woman.
As I boarded the plane,
I looked at my reflection in the window.
The bruises were gone.
The fear was gone.
There was only a steady,
unfailing light in my eyes.
The day Bennett Hale underestimated me,
he destroyed himself.
But he also set me free.
And that was the best gift he had ever given me.
I leaned back in the seat,
closed my eyes,
and felt the plane lift off.
The architecture of my ruin was finished.
The construction of my life was just beginning.
And this time,
May you like
the foundation was unbreakable.
The end.
