Chapter 8 - THE MORNING AFTER
I woke up the next morning in the master suite of Magnolia House.
The sun was streaming through the windows,
illuminating the dust motes dancing in the air.
The Spanish moss outside was swaying in a gentle breeze.
For the first time in two years,
I didn't wake up with a knot of anxiety in my stomach.
I didn't have to worry about whether my dress was too simple or my voice too loud.
I was alone,
and I was free.
I walked downstairs to the kitchen,
where the staff were already cleaning up from the night before.
They stopped when they saw me,
their faces filled with a new kind of respect.
It wasn't the fearful respect they gave Vivian.
It was the respect given to a leader.
“Morning,
Henderson,”
I said,
seeing the manager in the hallway.
“Morning,
Ms. Brooks.”
“The Ashfords attempted to return this morning to collect their personal items.”
“I refused them entry,
as per your instructions.”
“They are currently at the police station,
making a scene.”
I poured myself a cup of coffee,
the steam rising in the quiet morning air.
“Let them make a scene.”
“It’s the only thing they have left.”
I sat on the porch,
looking out at the long driveway that had once intimidated me.
I thought about my mother,
cleaning those office buildings with her aching knees.
I thought about the rental house with the leaking roof.
I wished she were here to see this.
But in a way,
she was.
The nonprofit I ran,
the one Nathan found so embarrassing,
was now the sole beneficiary of the Magnolia House profits.
The estate would no longer be a playground for the elite.
It would be a training center for women who had been broken by men like Nathan.
It would be a place of healing,
of strength,
and of rebirth.
I picked up my phone and called my lawyer.
“Is the divorce finalized?”
“The papers were served at 2:00 a.m.,”
he said.
“Nathan is refusing to sign,
of course.”
“He’s claiming marital assets.”
I laughed,
a sound that carried across the lawn.
“There are no marital assets,
David.”
“Everything was held in the Brooks trust before the wedding.”
May you like
“He has nothing.”
“Remind him of that.”
