Chapter 8 - The Exodus
The signing took less than five minutes.
It was a silent, pathetic surrender. Preston signed with a violently shaking hand, a man realizing his legacy was utterly erased. Weston signed slowly, a tear staining the expensive parchment paper.
As they handed the documents back, Sable didn't smile. There was no joy in this, only the cold satisfaction of balancing an equation. The debt had been paid.
"My security team will escort you out," Sable said, turning her back on them to pack her briefcase.
"Sable," Weston whispered one last time, standing at the door. "Was any of it real? Did you ever actually love me?"
Sable paused. She looked over her shoulder, her expression unreadable. "I loved the man I thought you were. But he was just a ghost in a tailored suit. Goodbye, Weston."
She didn't watch them leave. She stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows, looking out over the city skyline. The city that she now owned a significant piece of. Her phone buzzed in her pocket. It was a text from Mara’s nanny: Just finished ballet! Headed to the park for ice cream. Attached was a picture of a beaming, dark-haired little girl holding a massive strawberry cone.
Sable smiled. A real, warm, genuine smile.
Meanwhile, Weston arrived at the Callaway mansion just in time to see moving trucks pulling into the driveway. Camille was standing on the grand staircase, screaming at a team of Vanguard corporate auditors who were cataloging the art and furniture.
"You can't do this! I am Mrs. Callaway!" Camille shrieked, clutching her designer bag.
Weston walked through the front doors, looking at the woman who had ruined him, and the father who had betrayed him. Preston was sitting in a leather chair, staring blankly at the wall.
"Pack a bag, Camille," Weston said, his voice dead. "It's over. She took it all."
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"Who took it all?!" Camille demanded, her face flushed with panic.
"The woman you thought you replaced," Weston said. He looked at Leo, who was crying in the corner, and felt absolutely nothing. No love, no connection. Just a profound, crushing emptiness.
