Chapter 10 - The Morning After
Sunday morning sunlight poured through the floor-to-ceiling windows of our new home in Charlotte, bathing the hardwood floors in a warm, golden glow.
There was no frantic phone call from my mother demanding I run errands for Madison. There was no suffocating guilt waiting for me in my inbox, and no lingering shadow of a family that required me to shrink myself down so others could shine.
I sat at the marble kitchen island, sipping a steaming mug of black coffee while scrolling through a preliminary asset report sent over by Arthur’s legal team. Three hundred acres of prime industrial real estate, a clean corporate ledger, and absolute, undisputed ownership of my own life.
Footsteps padded softly down the hallway, and a moment later, Daniel appeared in a pair of loose gray lounge pants, his dark hair sleep-rumpled, holding two fresh mugs of coffee.
“Morning, Mrs. Brooks,” he murmured, leaning over the back of my stool to press a warm, lazy kiss against the nape of my neck.
“Morning, Mr. Brooks,” I smiled, tilting my head back to look up at him. “You know, for a wedding reception that ended in a double felony arrest, yesterday turned out to have a surprisingly good ROI.”
Daniel laughed, pulling up the stool beside mine and sitting down. “Only you could look at a twelve-million-dollar industrial trust and talk about return on investment before you’ve even finished your first cup of coffee.”
“Hey, I’m a practical woman,” I teased, resting my chin in my hand. “Though I suppose we do have a few minor logistical details to sort out this week.”
“Like what?”
“Like figuring out what to do with three hundred acres of prime Charlotte commercial land,” I said, raising an eyebrow. “Do we build a real estate empire, or do we turn the whole thing into a massive, state-of-the-art botanical garden just to spite my mother?”
Daniel grinned, his dark eyes sparkling with quiet amusement. “Knowing you, we’ll probably do both.”
Before I could reply, my phone buzzed softly on the marble countertop.
I glanced down at the screen. It wasn't an unknown number, and it wasn't a call from the precinct. It was a local real estate developer inquiring about a long-term commercial lease proposal for the northern quadrant of the Vance trust.
May you like
I picked up the phone, unlocked the screen with a steady, unhesitating thumb, and smiled.
The game was entirely mine to play now.
