The elderly woman had fallen asleep inside the ward.

We stood right outside the heavy doors.

"What did the physicians say?"

"Surgical intervention is required. The risks are exceptionally high."

I gazed through the glass window at the frail, diminished figure resting on the bed.

This elderly woman.

When the entire family had abandoned Ethan all those years ago, she was the lone soul who put up the capital to hire defense lawyers.

When I was pregnant, she was the one who kept me company at the hospital.

Prior to the summit, she had held my hand and whispered, “Your grandmother is standing right by your side.”

She had never once leaned toward either side of our conflict.

She was merely an old woman who desperately wished for her grandson to live a blessed life.

"Did she say anything while she was conscious?"

Ethan fell silent for a brief moment.

"She said she wants to see the two of us reconcile."

I offered no response.

"She also said that if she fails to make it off the operating table this time, her single remaining regret would be that she never got to witness us return to how we used to be."

The corridor was entirely quiet.

The fluorescent lighting cast a stark, clinical glow over us.

"Lana."

"Yeah."

"Do you honestly believe we can ever go back?"

I fixed my eyes on him.

This man.

When he was seventeen, for my sake, he had used an iron pipe to beat a man to death.

He endured ten long years behind bars, and upon his release, possessed absolutely nothing, venturing into Washington entirely alone to carve out a destiny.

Within five years, he fought his way from hauling bricks to commanding a massive real estate empire.

The very genesis of every single action he took had originally been rooted in a desperate desire to grant me a blessed life.

But along that grueling path, he had lost his way.

He allowed himself to be blackmailed by Madeline’s leverage.

He allowed himself to be entangled by Seraphina’s delicate affection.

He took the words that belonged strictly to me and granted them to another woman.

He utilized my exact sentence to comfort another woman in her distress.

These are things I would never find it in me to forget.

Yet I would also never forget the roar of that seventeen-year-old boy screaming across the pavement.

“Alaina, you're free!”

Whether we could ever go back wasn't a question that could be resolved tonight.

I turned around and pushed open the door to the ward.

I took a seat right beside Grandma Helen’s bed, keeping watch throughout the entire night.

At dawn, the elderly woman slowly opened her eyes.

She weakly reached out, clamping her hand over mine.

"Lana."

"Grandma, I'm right here."

"Don't harbor bitterness toward Ethan. He has always been a foolish boy."

"I know, Grandma."

"But promise me you will never endure grievances to change who you are, either."

"I won't, Grandma. Never again."

A gentle smile surfaced on her frail face.

"Splendid."

Chapter 29

The surgery on Grandma Helen was a complete success.

Her post-operative recovery was also much better than anticipated.

During the days she was hospitalized, Ethan and I crossed paths every single day.

In the hospital corridors.

At the door of the ward.

And when lining up for meals in the cafeteria.

We spoke more words to each other than we had in the past three months combined.

But it was all about the elderly woman's medical condition.

Regarding our own affairs, not a single word was mentioned.

Until the day she was discharged from the hospital.

She took my hand in one of hers and Ethan's in the other.

"The two of you, come back to the old estate with me and stay for a few days."

We agreed.

The old estate was incredibly quiet.

Arthur had prepared two bedrooms, one for me and one for Ethan.

We slept right next door to each other.

In the evening, I sat out in the courtyard.

The moonlight was beautiful.

Arthur mentioned that the elderly woman had already fallen asleep.

The sound of footsteps echoed from behind me.

Ethan came over and sat down right beside me.

The two of us stared at the old locust tree in the courtyard.

"Lana."

"Yeah."

"There's something I’ve never told you."

"What is it?"

"Regarding Seraphina’s child, I ran a paternity test."

I turned my head to look at him.

"He isn't mine."

Three words.

Like a stone violently dropped into still water.

"What do you mean?"

"The results came back. That child shares absolutely no biological tie with me."

My mind went entirely blank for two seconds.

"Whose is he then?"

"I don't know. I didn't continue digging into it."

"You mean... Seraphina was lying to you from the very beginning?"

"I'm not certain if it was her own idea or orchestrated by Madeline. But the child isn't mine."

"Neither of them?"

"The first one was dealt with by you, so there was no way to test it. The second one is this one, and he isn't mine."

I leaned back against the chair.

The moonlight washed over the old locust tree.

"When did you find out?"

"Last month. When I went to Nashville to see the baby, I ran the test on a whim."

"Why didn't you mention it sooner?"

"Because even if I had spoken up, it wouldn't alter the things I’ve done."

"I did stay with her, after all. Regardless of whether the child is mine, those actions were real."

"The depth of how I wronged you doesn't lessen just because the child isn't mine."

I offered no response.

Silence stretched for a long time.

The wind drifted through the leaves of the locust tree, a soft, rustling murmur.

"Ethan."

"Yeah."

"That sentence of yours—never speak it to anyone else ever again."

"Which one?"

"You know exactly which one."

He fell silent for a brief moment.

"I won't."

"That sentence, from the absolute beginning to the very end, should only ever belong to you."

"I was a complete fool."

The moonlight was striking.

I could clearly make out the contours of his face.

He had aged.

The sheer weight of everything that had unfolded over this past year had carved too many lines upon his face.

"Lana, I am not begging you to forgive me."

"But I want you to know one thing."

"Years ago, when I charged into your house and picked up that iron pipe, only a single thought possessed my mind."

"To keep you alive. No matter what the cost might be."

"Later, when I got out of prison and fought like hell to build capital, it was still that exact same thought."

"To grant you a blessed life. No matter what the cost might be."

"But somewhere along that grueling path, I completely miscalculated the cost."

"I fondly believed that yielding one step further would protect you, but every single step I yielded only pushed you further away."

"Lana, you were right."

"The fracture between us was never about Seraphina, or Madeline, or that two million dollars."

"It was that I persistently viewed you as someone who required protection, entirely forgetting that you have never needed to be shielded."

"You are stronger than me."

"You have always been stronger than me."

I listened until he finished speaking.

I didn't cry.

I didn't smile.

I merely reached out my hand and tapped the back of his hand twice with a gentle weight.

"Understood."

"As for the road ahead, we will cross that when we get there."

I stood up and retreated to my room.

Prior to drawing the door shut, he uttered one final sentence out in the courtyard.

"Lana, no matter what choice you make, I am here."

The door clicked shut.

I stood alone in the darkness for a brief moment.

Then I lay down.

That exact night, I slept far more peacefully than I had on any night over the past year.

Chapter 30

Five years later.

Morgan Investments had evolved from a boutique firm holding stakes in seven companies into a massive conglomerate encompassing real estate, cultural tourism, and technology sectors.

The total scale of assets under management surged past eight billion dollars.

A figure that eclipsed the scope of Ethan's conglomerate from five years ago.

Felix had transitioned from an initial partner into the Chief Operating Officer of the conglomerate.

Mrs. Higgins had entered retirement, though she still dropped by the headquarters once a month to look around.

My executive office was positioned on the absolute highest floor of the corporate tower.

Beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows stretched half the sky-line of New York.

That afternoon, I was executing a contract for a fresh venture.

Felix knocked and stepped through the door.

"Alaina, someone downstairs is asking to see you."

"Who?"

"Seraphina."

The pen in my hand paused mid-signature.

"Send her up."

It had been five years since we last crossed paths.