Chapter 5 - Flight to Freedom
The morning rain began to clear as I walked out of the front doors of the Cross mansion for the very last time. Behind me, the chaos was absolute. Federal marshals were inventorying Adrian’s luxury cars in the driveway, while corporate liquidators slapped official seizure notices on the front gates. Adrian stood on the portico in his shirtsleeves, shouting frantically into a dead cell phone while Celeste sat weeping hysterically on the marble steps, her designer bags tossed haphazardly into the wet grass.
I didn't look back.
A sleek, matte-black chauffeured Mercedes-Benz was waiting at the bottom of the private drive. The driver, dressed in a sharp dark suit, stepped out immediately and held the rear door open for me.
"Good morning, Madam Sterling," he said respectfully.
"Good morning, Marcus," I replied, sliding into the cool, leather-scented interior of the car.
As the vehicle glided silently down the winding private road away from the wreckage of my failed marriage, my phone buzzed with a final update.
Private Boeing 787 fueled and cleared for immediate takeoff at Teterboro Airport, the message from my aviation director read. Destination: Geneva, Switzerland. Global board meeting scheduled for tomorrow morning.
I looked out the tinted window as the Manhattan skyline came into view, shimmering brilliantly under the breaking morning sun. The past three years had been a detour—a quiet chapter spent trying to love a man incapable of understanding loyalty, respect, or true partnership. But that chapter was closed forever.
May you like
The private jet waited on the tarmac, its turbine engines humming with quiet, unstoppable power. I leaned back against the plush leather headrest, closed my eyes for a brief moment, and smiled.
Let Adrian keep his empty house, his stolen ring, and his ruined pride. I was finally heading home to an empire that was entirely my own.
