Chapter 25 – Embers of the Past
The weeks that followed were quieter.
Not perfect. Not magical.
But real.
Damian stepped back from daily VossTech operations, handing over more power to the executive board. Elara started consulting independently, helping young startups avoid the same traps that destroyed Vale Innovations.
They still lived in the penthouse—but no longer as a facade. There were no NDAs between them, no secrets behind polished doors.
Just small, honest moments.
He made her coffee. She left notes on his desk.
He stayed up reading her father's old patents. She curled beside him during his 3 a.m. anxiety spells.
Healing wasn't fast.
But it had started.
One rainy evening, Elara returned from a meeting with a new biotech team in Brooklyn. She shook the water from her coat as she entered the penthouse—and found Damian in the kitchen, holding a small velvet box.
He looked up sharply.
"I wasn't expecting you back yet."
She set her bag down, eyes narrowing. "Is that what I think it is?"
He hesitated. "I was going to wait."
Elara approached slowly, heart pounding. "Wait for what?"
He opened the box.
Inside was a ring.
Not glittering or oversized. Not billionaire-slick.
Just elegant. Simple. Beautiful.
Like the love they were learning to share.
Damian looked at her, more vulnerable than she had ever seen him.
"When I married you, I did it for the wrong reasons," he said. "I was trying to rewrite a tragedy with control and strategy. But somehow, through all the wreckage… you stayed."
She didn't speak.
"I'm not asking you to forget the past. Or even to fully forgive it. I'm asking if we can rewrite the future together. As equals. As partners."
Her eyes shimmered.
"Damian…"
"You don't have to say yes now," he added quickly. "I just wanted you to know I mean it. That this time, I'm not hiding anything."
She reached out, fingers brushing the box.
"I need time."
"I know."
"But I'm not walking away," she whispered. "Not this time."
He exhaled, emotion flickering across his face. "That's enough for me."
For now.
But just as they began to breathe again—life shifted.
Juliette arrived two days later, phone in hand, expression grim.
"We have a problem."
Damian set down his coffee. "What kind?"
"An internal whistleblower from VossTech's West Coast division has gone to the press. Claims of unethical data acquisition. Tied to a legacy project under your name."
Elara's heart dropped. "Not again."
Damian's face hardened. "That division hasn't reported to me in almost two years."
"But your signature is still on the original filing," Juliette said. "It's old tech—acquired under your tenure. They're trying to connect you to a privacy breach in California."
"Is it real?"
Juliette shrugged. "The media won't care if it is. They just need a villain."
Damian leaned back slowly. "Wexler's gone. Monroe's dead in the water. Who's left to gain from this?"
Elara's voice was quiet. "Someone who wants to finish what they started."
That night, Elara walked the balcony alone.
The skyline looked peaceful.
But she knew better now.
Peace was fragile. And power always attracted enemies.
Damian joined her a moment later, hands in his pockets.
"This doesn't scare you anymore," he said.
She looked at him. "It does. But I know how to stand now."
He nodded slowly. "We might have to go to court again. Publicly. This time, it'll drag out."
"Then we fight it. Together."
He turned to her, eyes dark with guilt. "I brought this to your door again."
"You brought truth to mine first."
Elara touched his hand.
"If this is the life I choose… I need to be ready to carry both the love and the fire."
He kissed her knuckles.
"You always were stronger than me."
"Not stronger," she said softly. "Just finally unafraid of what loving you really means."