Chapter 14 - SERENA'S LAST REQUEST Ethan was eight when Serena sent her final request.
She was dying.
She wanted to see him.
Isabella said no.
Victor hesitated.
Lily watched him.
“Why?”
Victor answered quietly.
“She is still his aunt.”
“She hurt him.”
Victor closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Ethan was old enough to have a voice.
So they asked him.
He shook his head.
“I don't want to.”
Nobody forced him.
Serena sent a letter instead.
It remained sealed.
Ethan could open it when he was old enough.
Serena died months later.
There was no celebration.
No dramatic forgiveness.
No grand reconciliation.
Just an ending.
Victor was eventually released under strict supervision.
No private security command.
No corporate authority.
No weapons.
No empire.
He lived in a modest apartment.
He learned to cook.
Badly.
The first time Ethan tasted Victor's pasta, he nearly spit it out.
“Too salty.”
Victor looked offended.
Isabella laughed.
Ethan laughed.
For one brief moment, they looked like an ordinary family.
But ordinary did not mean perfect.
May you like
It meant honest.
And for Victor, honesty was harder than fear had ever been.
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