The Widow’s Fate They Chose Was My Escape Plan Chapter 38
Sunlight fell across the metal, reflecting a warm glow.
Sebastian stood waiting for me in the ocean breeze.
He had not fully recovered; he still needed to rest if he walked too long. But he was no longer the man who had once struggled even to get out of bed.
I walked to him, step by step.
The officiant smiled and asked, “Lena Hart, do you choose Sebastian Quinn again, and willingly face the rest of your life with him?”
This time, no one drew lots for me.
No one stood behind me telling me what my fate was supposed to be.
I took Sebastian’s hand and said clearly, “I do.”
After the ceremony, Mia placed my parents’ photographs on a small table.
I lit a memorial candle.
Its flame trembled in the sea breeze, but it never went out.
I no longer imagined my parents standing at the door of the Sterling townhouse, waiting for me to come home.
Because from now on, wherever I go is home.
A few years later, my agency opened a second branch in Miami.
Each year, I used part of the profits to fund a support program for girls who had escaped human trafficking and needed to learn how to live again.
On the day the program launched, someone asked me why I had chosen the name Hart.
I thought for a moment, then only smiled.
“Because it’s the name I chose for myself.”
Not the Sterling family’s biological daughter. Not someone the Grant family could take back. And not only Sebastian Quinn’s wife.
I am Lena Hart.
In this life, I finally took my own life, whole and complete, into my own hands.
The End