Chapter 15 - Elodie Returned the Gift Box
Elodie came to my office carrying the cream gift box from her wedding.
She placed it on my desk.
“I want you to keep this.”
I opened it.
The photographs.
The old keys.
The trust letter.
Everything remained.
“Why?”
“The trust you made for my future children.”
She swallowed.
“I don’t deserve that.”
I closed the lid.
“Yes, you do.”
She shook her head.
“You were humiliated at my wedding.”
“By them.”
“Not by you.”
She began crying.
“I should have stopped Mom.”
“You didn’t know.”
“I knew she could be cruel.”
“That is different.”
Elodie looked at me.
“How do you know when forgiveness becomes enabling?”
The question stopped me.
“I’m still learning.”
We sat quietly.
Then I pushed the box back toward her.
“The education trust stays.”
“Why?”
“Because I created it for you.”
“Not for Genevieve.”
“Not for Adrian.”
“You.”
Her face broke.
She hugged me.
It was the first time either of us acknowledged that my divorce did not automatically erase every Arden relationship.
Some connections were real.
Elodie was one.
Then she whispered.
“Mom told Adrian something after you left the wedding.”
“What?”
“She said if you wanted war, they would make sure you left with nothing.”
I smiled faintly.
“That aged poorly.”
Elodie laughed through tears.
“Yes.”
Then she added.
“Adrian answered.”
“What did he say?”
“He said.”
“She doesn’t know what we already moved.”
My smile disappeared.
“What did they already move?”
Elodie did not know.
But Priya did.
May you like
Two days later, she found it.
A portfolio account in the Cayman Islands.
