Chapter 20 - Empire of Solitude
Two years later.
I stood on the helipad on the roof of my newly constructed corporate headquarters overlooking the San Francisco Bay. The sunset painted the sky in shades of gold and violet, illuminating the city below.
My assistant stepped onto the deck, carrying a sleek silver tablet.
"Ms. Vance, your helicopter to the airport is ready. The team in Paris has finalized the blueprints for the new hotel project. And... one last thing came in the mail for you."
She handed me a physical envelope with no return address.
I opened it. Inside was a single newspaper clipping from a local Monterey paper.
It was a small article about a sheriff's auction. My parents' original foreclosed belongings, along with the few designer items my mother had managed to hide away, had been auctioned off on the steps of the county courthouse to pay off Aunt Brenda’s legal fees.
At the bottom of the clipping, written in my mother's shaky handwriting, were four words:
Are you happy now?
I looked at the note for a moment. Then, I let go.
The mountain breeze caught the paper, lifting it over the glass ledge of the helipad, sending it spinning down into the fog rising off the bay below.
I didn't need to answer her question. My happiness was never something she could understand, because to her, happiness was something you stole from others. To me, it was something I had earned, brick by brick, dollar by dollar, untethered from the parasites who tried to bleed me dry.
I turned around, stepped into the helicopter, and took my seat.
"Where to, Ms. Vance?" the pilot asked over the headset.
May you like
I looked out the window as the rotors roared to life, lifting me above the city skyline toward an endless horizon.
"Paris," I said with a smile. "We're just getting started."
