Chapter 8 - THE LEDGER OF LIES
A year after the fire,
the "Triad Group" moved into its new headquarters.
A glass tower that reflected the lake and the sky.
I was going through the final boxes from my old office when I found it.
A small,
black leather ledger.
It had been Eleanor’s.
It must have been in the trunk of the car that brought her belongings to Chicago.
I opened it,
expecting more financial crimes.
Instead,
I found a diary of sorts.
A record of the names she had ruined.
The lives she had discarded.
And on the final page,
a entry dated five years ago.
Ava is gone. The problem is solved.
But she didn't cry.
Why didn't she cry?
A woman like that is a danger.
I should have made sure she was broken.
I sat on the floor of my new office,
reading those words over and over.
Eleanor hadn't hated me because I was "unworthy."
She hated me because she saw the steel in my spine.
She saw that I couldn't be controlled.
And that terrified her.
I looked at the photo on my desk.
Me and the boys at the park.
We were all laughing.
I wasn't broken, Eleanor.
I was forged.
The phone buzzed.
It was Ethan.
"Hey,
I have the boys for the weekend."
"We’re going to the zoo."
"Is that okay?"
"It’s fine, Ethan."
"Just make sure Caleb wears his sunscreen."
"I will."
"Ava?"
"Yes?"
"I found the letters."
I froze.
"What letters?"
"The ones you wrote to me from London."
"The ones my mother intercepted."
"They were in her safety deposit box."
The room felt suddenly cold.
"She kept them?"
"She kept them as insurance,
I guess."
"I read them all, Ava."
"I’m so sorry."
I closed my eyes,
remembering the desperation of those early days.
Writing to him,
begging him to tell me why he had left.
Telling him I was scared.
Telling him I was pregnant.
"It doesn't matter now, Ethan."
"Yes, it does."
"It matters because I know now that you didn't give up on me."
"I was the one who gave up on you."
"And I'll spend the rest of my life making sure the boys never feel that way."
I hung up the phone and looked out at the city.
The past was a ledger of lies,
but the future was a clean sheet of paper.
I picked up the black ledger and walked to the shredder.
I watched the pages turn to dust.
The Triad Group was thriving.
The boys were happy.
And I was free.
The Montgomery ghosts were finally,
May you like
permanently,
gone.
