Chapter 18 - The Accidental Meeting
Almost a year after the dramatic eviction, I was shopping for Leo’s birthday supplies at a local discount store.
I turned down the paper goods aisle and suddenly stopped completely dead in my tracks.
Standing entirely near the clearance section was Beatrice Sterling.
She was wearing a cheap, faded uniform vest, aggressively stocking shelves with massive boxes of toilet paper.
Her hair was a messy, unkempt gray, and she looked exhausted, broken, and completely miserable.
She accidentally dropped a heavy box, muttering a frustrated curse under her breath.
She looked up and locked eyes directly with me.
For a long, tense second, we just stared at each other in absolute, stunning silence.
I saw the deep flash of extreme humiliation and bitter regret burn brightly in her tired eyes.
She had gone from ruling a fake wealthy empire to scrubbing floors at a big-box retailer.
I didn't smile, I didn't gloat, and I didn't say a single cruel word to her.
I simply adjusted Leo securely on my hip, turned my shopping cart around, and walked completely away.
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She was entirely irrelevant to my life, just a sad ghost from a forgotten, toxic past.
Living a massively successful, wildly happy life was truly the absolute best revenge.
