Divorce to Destiny: Reclaiming My CEO Husband by Anney GW

481 Judy’s Service

(Jayden)

Mother's polished mahogany coffin sits at the front, surrounded by white lilies and roses, a stark contrast to the tumultuous life she lived and the wreckages she caused.

It's just Gus and me. No friends, no extended family. Just the two of us and that was what she wanted. Of course she did, just us two solely focused on her.

Gus sits beside me in shackles, the officers are keeping their distance for now and covering all exits. He's leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, his face drawn and pale. He looks like a man carrying the world's regrets on his shoulders. He should be.

I stand up and go forward to place a single rose on top of the coffin. This is it, she's really gone. My emotions are tangled-anger, relief, guilt, and some small, stubborn ache that won't let go. I feel free, and that in itself feels wrong. I go sit next to Gus again.

But she made my adult life Hell and Winona is right, a big part of me won't miss any part of that. I will miss most what I didn't really get, a functional, loving, stable mother.

I'll miss and grieve what I might have had, what I got as a child too young to comprehend that there is evil in the world.

Unfortunately, that was my mother. Perhaps she did her best with the hand she was dealt. Perhaps she made the wrong choices for the right reasons. But whatever it was, it's over now. And I do feel free.

"She always had a flair for the dramatic," Gus mutters, breaking the silence. "Even now, it feels like she's staging some final act by it being just us here."

"Well, she's gone," I say, my voice flat. "I don't want the ashes. You can decide what happens with them. You knew her the best. I'm sorry for her. Her life could've been so different. I'm sorry she couldn't control her own demons. But I'm not sorry for so many other things." Gus nods. "She was a complicated woman. And she did a lot of wrong. None of that is your fault, Jayden."

I clench my fists at my sides, staring at the polished surface of the coffin. "Complicated? That's one way to describe her, I guess. In the end it was all about winning for her, wanting to be right. Years of manipulation, mind games, and trying to control every aspect of my life. So she could feel like she was winning."

Gus stands slowly, his gaze fixed on me. "She thought she was doing what was best for you."

best for me to grow up with Greg? To have her poison every relationship I ever cared

did love you,"

not love," I snap. "That's control. And you let it happen. You stood back and

hardens. "Don't pretend you know what it was like for me. I had to make choices too, Jayden. Choices that weren't easy. Leaving her wasn't easy. Watching her marry Greg wasn't easy. And yes, I let things happen that I shouldn't have. But don't think for

demand, my voice rising. "You had all

heavily, running a hand over his face. "Because I was a coward," he admits. "I thought I could make it right from a distance. I thought I could protect

my shoulder. "Because for me, it was about

at him, my anger momentarily eclipsed by the raw

urgent. "Jayden, I need to ask you

this is why I get the emotional spiel, not

it over to Greg's Cuban

I need you at the helm a little longer," Gus says firmly. "That company is

my voice sharp.

your fight, not mine. I'm done with

your game, or Mother's, or

is right. I need to get the fuck over myself and stop trying to get the win. That is just history repeating itself. I'm done with that. I love Winona, I always have. I love the

what does that look like?" Gus challenges,

and a future that doesn't revolve around cleaning

can try but change doesn't come

giving the management

trusting them

make decisions without me

something that allows room for loved ones, something that doesn't réquire anyone to sacrifice their family