Chapter 14
Maura returned to one Ravenshaw event after three years.
Professional invitation.
Her company managed another hotel involved in the charity weekend.
She arrived without family entourage.
No ring.
No Gareth.
Elowen saw her.
Both nodded.
That was all.
Later Maura found me on the terrace.
“You look older.”
“Excellent opening.”
She smiled.
Then asked:
“Did I ever have a chance?”
Hard question.
“Yes.”
She looked away.
“That’s worse.”
“I know.”
If I had never loved her, she could have blamed the whole failure on manipulation.
I had.
The wedding might have happened.
She destroyed something real because she assumed real was not safe enough without leverage.
Then she said:
“I thought becoming your wife without my own people behind me meant disappearing.”
“And now?”
“I learned people behind you can also be the ones pushing.”
Gareth.
The seven families.
Good lesson.
Expensive.
May you like
We said goodbye.
No reconciliation.
