Chapter 8 - THE RING IN THE DRAWER
Six months passed.
I filed for legal separation.
Not divorce.
Roman didn't contest it.
Beatrice fought everything else.
Her attorneys challenged the trust.
They lost.
Dr. Mercer lost his hospital privileges pending investigation and later faced professional consequences over the unauthorized psychiatric documentation.
Patrick Rourke withdrew from Chicago business after Alessia turned over his messages.
Thomas Calder abandoned the alliance.
Nothing collapsed.
That surprised everyone.
Especially the men who had spent years claiming catastrophe would follow if old arrangements changed.
Roman sold two companies tied too closely to questionable operations.
He rebuilt others under independent management.
He moved permanently out of the estate.
I moved too.
Not into another mansion.
A brownstone near Lincoln Park.
Isabel's nursery had pale green walls.
No family crest.
No Bellandi portraits.
No succession documents.
Just a ridiculous stuffed giraffe Roman bought that was almost taller than I was.
He visited three evenings a week.
At first, we spoke only about Isabel.
Then other things crept back.
Coffee.
Books.
My work.
His insomnia.
Therapy.
That one shocked me.
“You're seeing a therapist?”
“Yes.”
“Voluntarily?”
“Don't ruin it.”
I smiled.
He didn't ask me to return.
That mattered.
Alessia and I met once.
By accident.
A foundation event.
She saw Isabel.
Stopped.
Then smiled.
“She looks like you.”
“She has Roman's eyebrows.”
“I'm sorry.”
“For the eyebrows?”
She laughed.
So did I.
Then silence.
Alessia had left her father's foundation and started working for a legal-aid organization.
I didn't ask whether guilt caused it.
Maybe.
People are allowed to build better things for imperfect reasons.
Before leaving she said:
“I hope you're happy.”
I believed her.
“I hope you are too.”
That surprised both of us.
At home that night, I opened my bedside drawer.
The ring was there.
I'd kept it.
Not because I'd decided to wear it again.
Because throwing it away would have allowed anger to make the decision.
I wanted the decision to be mine.
Isabel began crying.
I closed the drawer.
The ring remained inside.
May you like
For now.
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