Chapter 10

For the first time, I did not give an immediate answer.

Marriage was a serious decision.

I took three months to make it.

We met with both families.

We discussed where we would live after the wedding.

We discussed the boundaries between our companies.

We also discussed how we would end the marriage with respect if our feelings disappeared one day.

Julian did not promise that he would never change.

I did not ask him to prove that he would never make a mistake.

We agreed that whether the marriage lasted or not, neither of us would lose our career, property, or right to choose.

Three months later, I signed the prenuptial agreement.

I also accepted his ring.

The wedding was planned for the following spring.

When Anna received the invitation, she sent me a photograph.

She was standing in the conference room of her new company with an employee badge on her chest.

Behind her was the team she had led to win a major project.

The other victims had also built new lives.

Some had been promoted.

Some had started businesses.

Others had left the industry and returned to school.

The eight names that had once been placed inside a raffle drum were no longer connected to humiliation and unemployment.

Noah attended the wedding as head of the Hale investigation center.

The man who had once been able to send only anonymous emails had now helped create a system where more people could report the truth safely.

On the day of the wedding, our cars passed the former Brooks headquarters.

The company sign had been removed from the building.

The plaza now belonged to the new company.

The light turned red, and my car stopped at the intersection.

A homeless man sat hunched outside a convenience store.

He wore a dirty old coat.

His hair was tangled, and a damaged paper cup sat in front of him.

A woman walked past him.

Her heels splashed through a puddle, but she did not stop.

A second woman walked by while looking at her phone.

She did not look at him either.

Then he raised his face.

I recognized Ethan.

He had once enjoyed watching women look up to him.

He had enjoyed seeing them become anxious over his gifts and promises.

Now he held out his hand, but no woman was willing to look at him twice.

The windows were tinted.

He could not see me.

The light turned green.

The car moved forward, and I did not look back.

Half an hour later, my father walked me into the wedding venue.

Julian stood at the end of the aisle.

He watched me approach with a quiet smile.

The End