Chapter 9 - What Remained After the Empire
Six months later, the Costa estate felt different.
Warmer.
Literally.
Harper had changed the thermostat to seventy-two.
Nobody dared change it back.
Damian had spent months dismantling illegal operations connected to his family.
Several companies were seized.
Others survived under court supervision.
Salvatore accepted a plea agreement.
Richard Vale did not.
His trial became national news.
Claudia testified against him.
When she walked into court, Harper sat in the back row.
Claudia noticed.
Afterward, they met on the courthouse steps.
"You came."
"You asked."
Claudia looked embarrassed.
"I was horrible to you."
"Spectacularly."
"I slapped you."
"Also true."
"I made you polish plant leaves with mayonnaise."
"That remains your most unforgivable offense."
Claudia laughed.
It was the first genuine laugh Harper had ever heard from her.
"I'm sorry."
Harper studied her.
"I know."
It wasn't instant friendship.
Some wounds deserved time.
But it was a beginning.
Harper's own life changed too.
The supposed seventy-thousand-dollar medical debt had been fraudulent.
Valence Holdings had purchased old hospital accounts and illegally pressured relatives into paying debts they didn't owe.
Claudia's father had controlled the company.
The debt disappeared.
For the first time in years, Harper owed nobody anything.
Except perhaps herself.
She quit housekeeping.
Damian pretended to be surprised.
"You hate cleaning?"
"I hate your ficus."
He hired her as compliance director for the legitimate Costa businesses.
Harper stared at the offer.
"I don't have a degree in compliance."
"You found twenty years of corruption under a houseplant."
"Fair."
She accepted.
Their relationship grew slowly.
Damian never asked her to move into the estate.
Harper eventually did anyway.
She kept her apartment for three months afterward because she refused to become dependent on him.
Damian never complained.
That was one reason she trusted him.
One winter evening, they stood in the solarium.
The infamous ficus remained in the corner.
Harper pointed at it.
"Burn it."
"It belonged to my father."
"I'll compromise. We burn half."
Damian laughed.
She loved that sound because it had once seemed impossible.
Then his expression became serious.
"I have something for you."
"If it's a cleaning assignment, we're breaking up."
He reached into his pocket.
Harper froze.
"Damian."
He held no ring.
Instead, he held a key.
"What is that?"
"Your mother's house."
Harper stopped breathing.
Evelyn's childhood home had been sold years earlier.
Damian had found it.
Bought it.
Restored it.
And put the deed in Harper's name.
Her eyes filled.
"I can't accept this."
"Then don't."
"What?"
"Sell it. Donate it. Burn it. It's yours. Not mine."
That was when Harper understood.
He wasn't giving her a house.
He was giving her choice.
Something Claudia had tried to take.
Something Richard had taken from his daughter.
Something Damian's family had taken from him.
Harper closed her fingers around the key.
"Thank you."
Damian kissed her forehead.
Then the front gates opened.
A vehicle approached.
Mrs. Gable entered the solarium.
"Mr. Costa?"
Her face looked worried.
"There's someone here."
"Who?"
"A woman."
Mrs. Gable handed Damian an envelope.
Inside was a photograph of Vittorio Costa.
Standing beside Evelyn Reed.
Holding a newborn baby.
Harper turned the picture over.
One sentence was written on the back.
Damian is not Vittorio's only child.
Harper's face drained of color.
Damian stared at the photograph.
May you like
Then toward her.
The woman waiting downstairs claimed she knew exactly who the other child was.
