Chapter 65

Cecilia

The SEC moved faster than I'd anticipated.

Within forty-eight hours of our anonymous tip, federal agents had raided Hartley Capital's offices, seizing servers and documents. Within seventy-two hours, Blake Hartley was in custody, his assets frozen pending investigation.

The media coverage was relentless—every news outlet from the Wall Street Journal to CNN was running stories about the "massive insider trading scheme" that had netted the Hartley family hundreds of millions in illegal profits over the past decade.

I sat in our apartment, watching it all unfold on my laptop, Arthur beside me with his arm around my shoulders.

"They're calling it one of the biggest white-collar crimes in recent history," Arthur said, scrolling through another article on his phone. "The SEC is estimating over three hundred million in illegal gains."

"Good," I said, my voice cold. "Let them burn."

My phone rang then—an unknown number. made me pick up.

"Hello?"

"You bitch!" Madison's voice came through the line, shrill and breaking with rage. "You fucking bitch! How could you do this? How could you destroy my family?"

I put the phone on speaker so Arthur could hear, my expression carefully neutral. "Madison. How lovely to hear from you."

"Don't you dare act innocent!" She was crying now, her words coming out in gasps between sobs. "You did this! You leaked those emails to the SEC! You destroyed everything!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I said smoothly, even as Arthur's hand tightened on my shoulder. "Though I did read about your father's arrest. Terrible business, insider trading. I'm sure the federal prosecutors will be very thorough."

"You—" She choked on the word. "My father is going to prison because of you! Our company is bankrupt! We've lost everything!"

"No," I corrected, my voice turning sharp. "Your father is going to prison because he broke the law. Your company is bankrupt because it was built on fraud. "

There was a beat of silence, then Madison's voice turned venomous. "Sophia. That fucking traitor. She gave you the emails, didn't she?"

I didn't confirm or deny, just waited.

"I knew it," Madison hissed. "I knew she was weak. I knew she'd betray me the second things got hard. After everything I did for her—after I saved her, protected her, stood by her—"

"You manipulated her," I interrupted coldly. "You used her guilt and her trauma to control her. You made her think she owed you something when all you ever did was use her."

Madison let out a sound that was half-sob, half-scream. "You've ruined me. You've taken everything from me. My family, my reputation, my—" Her voice broke. "Arthur. You took Arthur from me."

"I didn't take anything," I said, and I let steel creep into my tone. "Arthur was never yours, Madison. He never wanted you. And no amount of scheming with his mother and grandmother was going to change that."

"He would have married me if you hadn't—"

"No," I interrupted firmly. "He wouldn't have. Because he loves me. And nothing you or Irene or Margaret could have done would have changed that."

"You're nothing!" Madison's voice was rising again, hysterical now. "You're nobody! An orphan with no family, no connections, no—"

"I'm the woman Arthur chose," I said, my voice cutting through her tirade like a blade. "I'm the woman he left his grandmother's birthday party for. I'm the woman he's building a life with. And you? You're the woman who's going to spend the rest of her life knowing she could never measure up."

"I hate you," Madison whispered, and the venom in her voice was palpable. "I hate you so much."

"OK." I said simply.

I heard her breath catch, heard the sharp intake that preceded another sob.

"Goodbye, Madison," I said softly. "I hope federal prison treats you well. I hear they're very strict about insider trading."

"Wait—what?" Her voice turned panicked. "What do you mean prison? I didn't—I wasn't involved in my father's—"

"Oh, didn't you know?" I let false sympathy color my tone. "The SEC found emails you sent to various board members, leveraging your social connections to extract confidential information. You're named as a co-conspirator in the indictment. Apparently, pillow talk with board members' sons counts as participating in the scheme."

The line went silent except for Madison's ragged breathing.

"You're lying," she whispered finally. "You have to be lying."

"Check your email," I suggested. "I'm sure your lawyer has sent you the indictment by now. It's quite detailed. They're estimating fifteen to twenty years, given the scope of your involvement."

"No," Madison breathed. "No, no, no—"

"Yes," I said, my voice turning cold again. "And here's the beautiful part, Madison—you did this to yourself. Every email you sent bragging about your father's 'brilliant' trading strategies, every time you used your connections to get information, every single time you participated in the scheme—you built your own cage."

I heard her start to hyperventilate, heard the phone clatter like she'd dropped it.

I hung up.

The silence in the apartment was deafening. I sat there for a moment, staring at my phone, feeling the adrenaline slowly drain from my system.

"Ceci," Arthur said softly. "You okay?"

I turned to look at him, and something in my chest loosened. "Yeah," I said. "I'm okay."

He pulled me close, and I let myself lean into him, drawing strength from his solid warmth.

My phone buzzed—a text from an unknown number.

Thank you. For giving me a chance to do the right thing. I know it doesn't change anything, but I needed you to know. —S

I didn't respond to that. Just set my phone down and turned back to Arthur.

"It's over," I said quietly. "Madison, the smear campaign, all of it. It's finally over."

Arthur's arms tightened around me. "Not quite," he said. "We still have to deal with my mother and grandmother."

I pulled back to look at him. "Your uncle—"

"Talked to my grandmother," Arthur confirmed. "Convinced her to back off. But my mother..." His jaw tightened. "My mother is a different story."

"What did she say?"

"She called me this morning," Arthur said, his voice carefully controlled. "Told me I was making the biggest mistake of my life. That you would destroy the Winston name. That I was choosing temporary passion over lasting legacy."

"And what did you tell her?"

A slow smile spread across his face. "I told her that you are my legacy. That everything I build from here on out, I'm building with you. And if she can't accept that, then she's welcome to stay out of our lives."

I felt tears prick at my eyes, but I blinked them back. "Arthur—"

"I mean it, Ceci," he said fiercely. "I don’t need any marriage alliance partner, nor the families behind them. Ceci, Cecilia, all I need is you."

I kissed him then, pouring everything I felt into it—gratitude and love and relief and hope all tangled together.