Chapter 9 - The New Foundation
Over the next year, life moved with incredible speed and beautiful clarity.
Julian was sentenced to three years in federal prison for embezzlement and corporate fraud. Eleanor, stripped of her assets and her pride, moved out of the state to live with a distant relative, completely ousted from the society she had worshipped above all else.
NovaCore went public, making me a billionaire on paper, but my lifestyle barely changed. I still drove the restored vintage cars my father built for me. My parents still lived in the same comfortable, modest home they always had, though I had secretly paid off their mortgage and funded a massive expansion for my dad’s garage.
And Liam.
Liam had become the cornerstone of my life. He was everything Julian wasn't. He was secure in his own success, wildly supportive of mine, and he treated my parents like absolute royalty. Every Sunday, he was at my parents' house, drinking cheap beer with my dad and debating the merits of different engine blocks, his expensive suits traded for jeans and a t-shirt.
My mother adored him. My father respected him. And I loved him with a depth I hadn't known was possible.
We were standing in my father’s garage one evening, the smell of motor oil and old leather hanging comfortably in the air. Liam was wiping grease off his hands with a rag, having just helped my dad install a carburetor.
He walked over to where I was sitting on a workbench, boxed me in with his arms, and smiled.
“Your dad gave me his blessing today,” Liam said casually, though his eyes were intense.
My breath hitched. “His blessing for what?”
Liam reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, velvet box. “For a chance to do things right. No grand ballrooms. No fake friends. Just us, your family, and a promise that I will spend the rest of my life making sure you’re always in the front row.”
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I looked at the ring. It wasn't a massive, gaudy diamond designed to show off wealth. It was an antique sapphire, elegant, timeless, and completely perfect.
“Yes,” I whispered, pulling him in for a kiss. “Absolutely, yes.”
