Chapter 7
I removed Gideon from every Pierce association.
No private dinners.
No business introductions.
No security access.
No auctions.
No saying:
“My future brother-in-law.”
There was no future.
He called it destruction.
I said:
“No. You’re discovering what your own name opens.”
Not much.
That frightened him.
Good.
Lucille lost more personally.
Her room was packed.
Her jewelry returned.
Her engagement ring went into the Pierce vault only because she refused to take it.
I sent it back later.
I did not want relics.
She said:
“You’re acting like none of us mattered.”
“No.”
That was wrong.
She mattered.
I loved her.
Daisy liked her once.
That made betrayal more painful, not less.
May you like
Ending access did not erase two years.
It simply stopped two years from claiming the future.
