Chapter 49
CHAPTER
FORTY-NINE
JULIE
Gregory walks us to the door of the conference room. The board members are still inside, gathering their own documents, speaking in low voices about transition plans and quarterly projections. I don't look back.
Jamie's hand is tight in mine as we step into the hallway. The carpet is plush beneath my feet, the walls lined with expensive art I don't recognize. Everything about this building screams money and power. And I just walked away from all of it.
The elevator is at the end of the hall. I can see Ryan standing near it, his posture alert, protective. Clearly, staying in the car wasn’t for him. When he sees us, his expression shifts—concern, then confusion as he takes in Jamie's tear-streaked face and my own shaky composure.
"Hey," he says as we approach. "You okay?"
I open my mouth to answer, but I don't know where to start. I just turned down tens of billions of dollars. Dean is still fucking with Asher. I'm free.
"I'll explain in the car," I manage. "Let's just?—"
"Julie."
The voice stops me cold. I turn slowly. Asher is hurrying up the hallway toward us.
"You miserable fucking piece of shit," Jamie hisses, stepping in front of me.
Ryan moves too, positioning himself between Asher and us, his body language screaming don't come any closer.
But I put my hand up. "It's okay," I say quietly.
"Julie—" Ryan starts.
"It's okay."
I look at Asher. At the man I married. The man I thought I knew. "He can say what he has to say."
Jamie makes a sound of protest, but she doesn't stop me when I step around her. Asher and I stand there in the hallway, five feet apart. The distance feels like miles.
"I don't understand," he says finally. "You said no. To all of it. Why?"
Behind me, I hear Ryan's sharp intake of breath. He's wondering what the hell that means. I look at Asher for a long moment. "Because I didn't marry you for money," I say simply.
His face crumples slightly.
"I believed your lies," I continue. "Which means I foolishly married for love. Because you played a part and I thought you loved me. You'll have to live with that for the rest of your life. But where our marriage was concerned, my conscience is clear."
"Julie—"
"I never had to cheat," I say, my voice steady. "I never had to lie or steal or manipulate or do terrible things to get what I wanted. And I was ready to lose my business. The truth meant more to me than lies because I’m not a piece of shit.”
I watch him deflate before me. Watch the last of his bravado, his confidence, his control just... collapse.
"I did love you," he says.
I roll my eyes. “No, you didn’t. Even now, you’re still lying. There’s no point.”
He grimaces. “Fine. But I did have feelings for you. I did care, Julie. Then my father married Caroline and everything changed. He was holding my future over my head. I blamed you for that.”
“Be serious, Asher. We started as a lie," I say quietly. "So whatever feelings you thought you had were created within the lie. Not the reality."
He flinches. I tilt my head and stare at him for a few seconds. It’s crazy that now that I know he’s a liar, I can see it written all over him.
Asher opens his mouth. Closes it. Tries again. Then. "I'm sorry."
I hold up my hand. "I don't accept your apology. Because you aren’t sorry. Not really. You’re sorry you got caught.
Sorry you don’t get everything you wanted.
If this had gone another way, you’d be patting yourself on the back and running over me on the way out.
You’d be gleeful about it because you’d have gotten your way.
Your father was absolutely right about one thing. You're a bad man.”
He looks stunned that I’m being so direct. Good. I hope it hurts.
“I have one thing to say to you, though.”
He nods. "Okay."
I have no fucks left in me for this man’s feelings, so I’m saying what I want to. And that means I’m going to be harsh.
“Stop worrying about what your father would think and start wondering what your mother would have said instead.
She loved you. Be a son she'd be proud of.
Be her legacy. Not his. Because right now?
You're acting like the husband who broke her heart.
The one who slept with other women while she was dying.
Who couldn't be bothered to be there for her. Or their child. He was a bad husband. And so were you. I bet she’d have been heartbroken to know her son is a fucking monster. "
His face crumbles and his eyes are definitely glistening. I don’t care. "I’m done with you now, Asher. If you ever see me again, look the other way. I don’t want to know you and nothing you could ever say is necessary for me to hear.”
And now, I'm done. Jamie takes my hand immediately. Ryan moves to my other side, his presence solid and protective. We walk toward the elevator. I don't look back. The elevator doors open. We step inside.
And as the doors slide closed, I catch one last glimpse of Asher standing alone in that hallway, looking gutted, surrounded by the wreckage of everything he destroyed. I hope it hurts. But knowing him, he’ll keep right on making shitty decisions.
"Holy shit," Ryan breathes. "Julie, what the fuck just happened up there?"
"Dean left her everything and she said no thank you," Jamie says, her voice thick with emotion. "She walked away from all of it."
"Not quite all of it," I correct. "But the big thing? Yeah. I said no."
Ryan stares at me. "You what?"
"I'll explain," I say. "But not here. Not yet."
The elevator reaches the ground floor. The doors open. And I step out into the lobby, into the afternoon sunlight streaming through the glass doors, into my new life.