Epilogue: The Man I Chose
We annulled the marriage three weeks later.
Not because I regretted it.
Because Ethan deserved to be chosen for real, not used as a weapon in my war against my father.
My father kept his promise.
Clara Reed’s name was cleared. The fund was created. Workers who had been silenced for years began coming forward.
The Callahan name lost some of its shine.
But maybe it needed to.
As for Ethan, he refused my father’s money at first. Eventually, he accepted one thing: the reopening of his mother’s case and a scholarship in her name for students who had to work their way through school.
Months later, I found him sweeping leaves outside the same building where I had first met him.
“Still pretending to be just a janitor?” I asked.
He smiled.
“Still pretending you don’t make reckless decisions?”
I laughed.
This time, there was no contract between us.
No money.
No rebellion.
Just two people who had seen each other clearly.
“Coffee?” I asked.
Ethan looked at me for a long moment.
Then he nodded.
“Only if it’s not a business deal.”
And for the first time in my life, I chose something my father had not arranged.
Something simple.
Something honest.
Something mine.