How a Dying Woman Rewrote Her Epilogue

Chapter 591

Of course she'd always been clever—at least, once she'd torn herself free of the illusions of love.

In this moment, everything became painfully clear.

What Jarrod wanted wasn't simply the total destruction of her family.

No, he had used her, even as he pushed her toward the abyss.

Used her to lay out a golden path for Elodie. Used her to thrust Elodie, step by step, into the public eye, turning her into nothing more than a stepping stone, a pawn in Elodie's rise to fame. If she hadn't stumbled through the string of scandals Jarrod so carefully orchestrated-each one more explosive than the last -Elodie would never have become such a household name. At best, she'd be just another quiet scientist, her return to the field after years away marked only by a discreet press release.

If Jarrod didn't have such grand ambitions, he could've ruined her in a thousand easier ways.

But instead, he made sure each blow came directly from Elodie. Every time she fell, it was Elodie who struck the final blow, Elodie who got her revenge-while Jarrod made sure Elodie's star only rose higher.

Of course-

If she'd never returned home, Jarrod would've found other ways to make her stumble.

But none would have been so devastating, so complete. He wanted her and her family utterly disgraced, shattered in the eyes of the world, shut out forever from any hope of belonging to high society, condemned to a life where redemption was impossible.

She realized with a sick twist in her gut-she'd never meant anything to him. He'd only ever kept her close to serve his own plans.

He played everyone like pieces on a chessboard, clearing the way for Elodie's dreams with ruthless precision, dressing her success in the finest trappings.

The horror of it washed over her. The more she thought, the more she realized her guesses barely scratched the surface. She could never truly understand Jarrod.

She was too exhausted even to hate him anymore.

didn't spare

few words with the security team that had

watched as he drove away without a trace of

she collapse, hopeless, onto

if there was

officers and agents gathering outside, understood at once- Jarrod had never intended to let the other side

also saw Selma being led

car. That woman,

and vicious,

to retaliate,

time, Elodie felt a chill

not for Jarrod, she might not have made

But...

happened, peeling away the layers, it dawned on her: hadn't she

into the

Outside, chaos reigned.

shutting out the noise, sealing them together

sense of his presence filled

spun. She frowned slightly, glancing at the man

turned his head, meeting

said

engine, resting one hand casually on the steering wheel.

take you home."

still wearing her soft loungewear, sitting quietly