Chapter Eight: The Awakening
The suite was beautiful.
Floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city.
A king bed with soft white linens.
A bathroom with a huge tub.
Everything pristine and peaceful.
Simone stood at the window.
Watched the sun set over the skyline.
This morning she’d woken up in a cold basement.
Facing homelessness and poverty.
Tonight, she was standing in a luxury hotel.
Worth sixty-two million dollars.
Her phone buzzed.
An unknown number.
You think you’ve won? You haven’t. I’ll destroy you.
Dererick.
Simone blocked the number without responding.
Let him make threats. Let him rage and scheme.
Harold had made sure she was protected.
She ordered room service.
The first real meal she’d had in days.
While she ate, she pulled out the folder Patterson had given her.
Information about the company. About her new responsibilities.
Tomorrow, she’d need to go to the house.
Pack her things. Change the locks. Arrange for the sale.
She’d need to prepare for the board meeting on Monday.
But tonight, she just needed to process everything.
She took a long bath.
Let the hot water ease the tension from her body.
Then she put on the hotel robe.
Sat on the bed.
Harold’s letter in her hands again.
Build something beautiful, he’d written.
Simone thought about the company.
The employees depending on it.
The clients trusting it.
The legacy Harold had built over decades of hard work.
Could she really do this?
Could she step into Harold’s shoes and run a multi-million dollar business?
Doubt crept in.
She wasn’t formally trained.
She’d never managed anyone.
She knew theory, but not practice.
Then she remembered Harold’s lessons.
About keeping your word.
About doing quality work.
About treating people fairly.
Simple rules that most people couldn’t follow.
She could follow those rules.
She could learn the rest.
Her phone buzzed again.
Another unknown number.
Another text from Dererick, probably.
But when she looked, it wasn’t from Dererick.
It was from Patterson.
Just heard from the DA. Dererick was arrested an hour ago at his mother’s house. He’s being held on $500,000 bail. Thought you’d want to know.
Simone stared at the message.
Dererick arrested.
Dererick in jail.
She should feel victorious.
Instead, she just felt tired.
And sad.
Sad for the man Dererick could have been.
Sad for the marriage that had died.
Sad for all the wasted years.
But underneath the sadness was something else.
Something Harold had given her.
Hope.
Hope for the future.
Hope for the company.
Hope for herself.
She set down her phone.
Pulled out her laptop.
Opened a blank document.
Started writing notes.
Ideas for the company.
Changes to make.
People to talk to.
Questions to ask.
The doubts were still there.
The fear was still real.
But so was the determination.
Harold had believed in her.
Now she needed to believe in herself.
Outside the window, the city lights sparkled in the darkness.
Simone worked late into the night.
Planning her future.
Tomorrow, the real work would begin.
But tonight, she allowed herself one small moment of peace.
One small acknowledgment of how far she’d already come.
She wasn’t the same woman who’d signed that prenup ten years ago.
She wasn’t the same woman who’d stood outside Dererick’s office, frozen and crying.
She wasn’t the same woman who’d slept in a basement last night.
She was someone new.
Someone Harold had seen all along.
Someone she was only beginning to meet.
Simone closed her laptop.
Turned off the light.
And for the first time in months, she slept without dreaming of Dererick.
