Chapter 8 - THE REBIRTH OF THE ELLIS NAME
Weeks turned into months.
The family name was gone from the charity boards.
It was gone from the society columns.
But I was still an Ellis.
And I decided to reclaim it.
I didn't want the name to be associated with poison and lies.
I wanted it to be associated with resilience.
I opened the Ellis Foundation for Food Safety.
I used the profits from The Obsidian Room to fund it.
I hired the best scientists.
I hired the best lawyers.
I wanted to make sure that no one else ever had to claw at a marble floor while their family watched.
One afternoon,
I went to visit Chloe.
She was in a state prison.
No emerald silk.
No champagne.
Just a gray jumpsuit and a cold room.
She looked different.
Smaller.
The shine was completely gone.
“Maya,”
she whispered.
She didn't sound like herself.
She sounded like a stranger.
“I’m sorry.”
I looked at her through the glass.
I didn't feel angry anymore.
I just felt tired.
“I know you are,
Chloe.”
“But you’re sorry because you got caught.”
“Not because you hurt me.”
Chloe looked down at her hands.
“They say you’re a billionaire now.”
“They say Julian Cross is your partner.”
“You were always the smart one,
weren't you?”
“You just let us think you were nothing.”
“I didn't let you think anything,”
I said.
“I just worked.”
“You were too busy looking at your own reflection to notice.”
I stood up.
“I’m moving to London,
Chloe.”
“I’m opening a new restaurant.”
“I’m taking the Ellis name with me.”
“I’m going to make it stand for something good.”
Chloe looked up.
Her eyes were wet.
“Will you visit me again?”
I looked at the door.
“No.”
“I’m done looking back.”
I walked out of the prison.
The air was fresh.
The sky was wide.
I drove to the airport.
Julian was waiting by the private jet.
“Ready for London?”
he asked.
I took his hand.
“Ready for everything.”
We boarded the plane.
The city of Atlanta disappeared beneath the clouds.
The Obsidian Room was still there.
The foundation was still there.
But I was moving forward.
I was no longer the disappointing daughter.
May you like
I was the architect of my own life.
And the blueprint was perfect.
