Chapter 22 - GENEVIEVE LOSES THE ROOMThe Rothwell board removed Genevieve from operational consideration pending review.
Her father survived.
Barely.
The company survived too.
But the Ellington partnership did not.
Not because August demanded punishment.
The audit found undisclosed related-party transactions and inflated procurement contracts.
Rothwell would need years to repair trust.
Genevieve blamed Maris.
Then Caleb.
Then Julian.
Then her father.
Eventually there were fewer people left.
She requested a private meeting with Maris.
Maris almost refused.
Then accepted.
Public place.
Daytime.
No Eden.
Genevieve arrived in simple clothes.
No diamonds.
Maris noticed.
They sat.
Genevieve spoke first.
“I’m sorry.”
Maris looked at her.
“You said that already.”
“I know.”
“Why now?”
“Because everything is gone.”
Maris’s expression hardened.
“Then you still don’t understand.”
Genevieve flinched.
Maris continued:
“You are sorry because consequences arrived.”
“That’s not fair.”
“Then tell me what you’re sorry for if none of this had happened.”
Genevieve went quiet.
Minutes passed.
Finally:
“I wanted you to feel small.”
Maris leaned back.
There.
Truth.
“Why?”
“I thought you were pretending.”
“To be what?”
“Like you didn’t care about any of it.”
“Any of what?”
“Money. Family. Status.”
Maris almost laughed.
“I cared.”
Genevieve looked surprised.
“I cared so much I spent years trying to prove I didn’t.”
Genevieve stared.
Maris continued:
“The difference is I didn’t think caring gave me the right to hurt strangers.”
Genevieve looked down.
“I was jealous.”
“Of what?”
“At first?”
She exhaled.
“You walked into the room without trying to impress anyone.”
Maris almost smiled.
“I was terrified.”
“You didn’t look it.”
“Neither did you.”
Genevieve looked up.
For a moment, they saw each other clearly.
Not equal victims.
Not friends.
Just women shaped differently by wealthy families.
Genevieve said:
“I thought if Julian became August’s successor, my life would finally become mine.”
Maris frowned.
“By attaching it to another man’s inheritance?”
Genevieve laughed bitterly.
“Yes.”
“That was never yours.”
“I know.”
Maris stood.
Genevieve looked frightened.
“Do you forgive me?”
“No.”
Honest.
“Will you?”
“I don’t know.”
Genevieve nodded.
Maris left.
No public destruction.
No dramatic revenge.
Genevieve had already lost the room she spent her entire life trying to own.
May you like
And perhaps now she finally had the chance to build a life that did not depend on who stood behind her.
Whether she would was no longer Maris’s problem.
