Chapter 19 - The Last Letter
Grant sent one final letter when Ellie turned eighteen.
I almost didn't open it.
But I did.
There was no apology for himself.
No excuses.
No request for money.
No request for forgiveness.
Only one page.
I used to think winning meant getting what you wanted.
I was wrong.
I got the company.
I got the money.
I got the woman I thought I wanted.
And I still had nothing.
You had something I could never understand.
You knew the difference between having power and being worthy of it.
Ellie is the best thing I ever almost destroyed.
I am sorry.
I know sorry cannot return the years.
So I won't ask you to forgive me.
I folded the letter.
Ellie had never seen it.
I didn't intend to show her.
Some truths were not gifts.
Sometimes they were burdens.
Instead, I placed the letter beside my father's final note.
Then I closed the drawer.
My daughter was eighteen.
The Bluebird trust was about to activate.
Her life was finally her own.
And unlike Grant, she would never have to wonder whether the people around her loved her or wanted something from her.
That was the victory I cared about.
Not the empire.
Not the court case.
Not the headlines.
Ellie had grown up free.
May you like
That was enough.
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