She wore a simple, beautiful white dress, her hair blowing gently in the wind, completely healed from the trauma of her father’s betrayal.

Victor walked up beside me and handed me a warm cup of black coffee. He looked out over the skyline, then down at Sophia.

“Do you ever regret hiding who you were from him for all those years, Viv?” he asked quietly.

I took a slow, deep sip of the coffee, feeling the grounding warmth of the mug in my hands. I remembered the woman standing in the freezing rain, holding a crying child while a cruel secretary sneered at her off-the-rack coat.

“I don’t regret it,” I said softly, a profound sense of absolute freedom filling my chest. “Hiding my name showed me exactly who Dominic was when he thought I had no power to fight back.

It showed me the raw, unvarnished truth of his character.”