“Effective immediately, Lawrence Blackwood is removed from all positions of power pending a full federal investigation into his financial misconduct,” I declared as I signaled for the hotel security team to step forward. Victoria rushed toward the stage with tears of desperation streaming down her face and she tried to reach out to me as if we were still family.
“Sienna, please listen to me, we are your family and we were just grieving when we acted that way,” she sobbed while the security guards gently but firmly blocked her path. I looked down at her and remembered the feeling of the cold rain and the sight of my clothes rotting in the mud on the day she threw me out.
“Throwing a grieving widow out into a storm was not an act of sorrow, it was an act of calculated cruelty, and you are no longer welcome in my company or my life,” I said quietly before I turned my back on her for the final time. I watched from the stage as the once powerful Blackwoods were escorted out of the gala through a side exit while the crowd watched in absolute silence.
I faced the remaining guests and promised them that we would rebuild the empire with integrity and honor, and the applause that followed was the loudest sound I had heard in months. Three months later, I sat in the executive office at the top of the Blackwood Tower and looked out over the skyline of Rivercrest as the sun began to set.
Lawrence was facing multiple counts of fraud while Madeline and Skylar were living in a small rental property after their personal assets were seized to pay off the company’s debts. I touched the gold band on my finger and felt a sense of peace because I knew that Garrett would have been proud of the justice we had achieved together.
They thought they had buried me when they pushed me into the mud, but they failed to realize that I was a seed that was destined to grow into something far stronger than their hatred.
