He Signed My Freedom Now He Wants Me Back Chapter 16
Lucian’s expression shifted. He was used to me seeking his attention, his time, my place in his family. It had never occurred to him that I would refuse even his money.
I smiled.
In my last life, I carried that title until the day I died.
I was the one left lonely. I was the one abandoned. I was the one swallowed by fire.
“Lucian, I—”
His phone cut me off.
Vivian’s voice came through the receiver, bright and cheerful. “The children and I are waiting for you at the restaurant. We have a surprise.”
His expression softened at once.
“I’ll be right there.”
He hung up and said to me, “The driver is downstairs.”
Then he turned and left.
I didn’t try to stop him.
Tonight, the Highridge Registry would complete the final witness. Very soon, Vivian would tell him exactly what that document he had signed without reading had been.
I pressed the call button and asked the staff to send my luggage to the border airport.
An hour later, I deleted every means of contacting Lucian and placed the household account card and the Luna crest together in a drawer.
Then, under remote witness from the Tidewatch Registry, I spoke my final words.
“I, Evelyn Hart, voluntarily relinquish my Highridge Luna authority and confirm the cancellation of the claim.”
The last trace of pressure from the old order slowly dissolved from my chest.
Ember raised her senses again.
This time, she did not look back toward Grayhaven. She only drew the damp, unfamiliar scent of the distant wind into my lungs.
As the plane lifted into the air, the sunset stained the clouds gold and crimson.
I leaned against the window and closed my eyes.
The days I had humbled myself for love were finally behind me, left to burn away in Highridge.
Ahead of me was Tidewatch.
And a life that belonged only to me.