Chapter 10 - THE HORIZON
The sun set over the Pacific Ocean, painting the sky in violent shades of violet, gold, and deep indigo.
I stood on the private balcony of the Escalante Tower penthouse, the cold evening wind catching the edge of my silk scarf. My father stepped out beside me, handing me a glass of aged Chilean wine.
“To new foundations,” Alberto said, raising his glass.
I touched my glass to his, the clear chime ringing out into the vast, open air above the city.
“To foundations built with truth, Papa,” I replied, looking out toward the endless horizon where the lights of Los Angeles stretched as far as the eye could see.
The game they had played for four years—the insults, the slaps, the manufactured humiliation, the arrogant belief that a woman’s worth is measured by a man’s permission—was over.
May you like
They had told me to get on my knees and get out.
Instead, I had stood up, taken back my name, and claimed the entire kingdom.
