Chapter 172: Grand Finale (Extra)

Red pressed down harder, pinning Frank firmly to the ground.

Stella looked at that old face, her mind completely clear.

"Three years ago, your son had me thrown into that psychiatric facility. Every day, the orderlies held me down and force-injected sedatives that made me sick and nauseous. I was locked in a room with no windows and couldn't even get a clean glass of water."

Frank's expression shifted. His lips moved, but nothing came out.

"Where were you then?" Stella pressed on. "You were the one running the Hudson family. You knew I was innocent. You knew that paternity test was fake. But to protect the family's reputation — to cover for your precious son — you chose to look the other way."

"And Jared." Stella's eyes went slightly red. "Your own grandson. Locked in a dark, freezing attic, eating the servants' cold leftovers every day. Did you ever once check on him? Did you ever show him even a little bit of care?"

Frank had nothing left to say.

He looked away from Stella, his body trembling slightly.

Stella stood up straight and looked at him, her voice empty of sympathy.

"People who cause harm don't deserve sympathy." Stella's words were blunt and cold. "What happened to your son today is the result of what he did. He brought it on himself. From now on — you, or anyone from the Hudson family — if any of you dare come near Jared or me, I promise I'll make your lives not worth living."

She turned to Red. "Throw him out on the street. If he ever shows up again, break his legs."

"Got it." Red nodded, dragging Frank out through the estate's iron gates.

Stella turned and walked back into the living room.

Dennis was standing at the floor-to-ceiling window, watching her.

He walked over and pulled her into his arms, dipping his head to kiss her forehead.

"Well done." Dennis held her tight. "Those people will never show up in your life again."

Just then, Stella's phone on the table buzzed.

She walked over and picked it up.

A breaking news alert had popped up on the screen.

The headline was in bold black letters: "West District Abandoned Chemical Plant Explosion — Latest Update: Remains Identified."

Stella tapped the notification.

The article was clear.

Search and rescue teams had pulled a badly burned body from deep in the rubble beneath the plant.

Police had extracted DNA from the remains overnight and compared it against Frank's.

The results confirmed it: the victim was Miles.

He was really dead.

The man who had destroyed half her life and dragged her through hell.

He had played with fire and burned himself down to nothing.

She didn't cry. She didn't feel sad.

She turned off her phone screen, looked up at Dennis, and gave him a smile — one that carried nothing but pure relief.

"It's over," she said.

Dennis stepped forward, cupped her face in his hands, and kissed her.

---

[Bonus Chapter]

Six months later.

New York. Wall Street.

Inside the Nasdaq MarketSite.

Stella stood on the podium in a tailored deep red suit, her hair pulled back cleanly behind her head. She held the ceremonial bell mallet in her hand, a bright, confident smile on her face.

"Ten, nine, eight..."

The crowd below counted down loudly.

Dennis stood in the front row, dressed in a black bespoke suit, holding Jared — who was wearing his own little suit — in his arms.

He watched Stella on the stage, his eyes full of pride and love, he made no effort to hide.

"Three, two, one!"

Stella struck the opening bell.

The clear ring echoed through the trading hall.

On the big screen, the ticker symbol "AURE" lit up officially, its opening price climbing fast.

The room broke into applause and cheers.

Stella stepped off the stage and went straight into Dennis's arms.

"You did it." Dennis held her close, speaking quietly near her ear. "My love, you're a billionaire now — for real."

"Mommy, you were amazing!" Jared wrapped his arms around her neck and planted a big kiss on her cheek.

Stella laughed and ruffled his hair.

The past six months had changed her life completely.

AURE had taken off in the global luxury market, with sales doubling again and again.

She was no longer an extension of someone else. She was a CEO in full control of her own future.

That evening, the three of them went back to Dennis's beach house on Long Island.

Jared ran around on the lawn in the yard, tossing a frisbee with two golden retrievers.

He was sweaty and laughing, his voice carrying far out into the night breeze.

Stella brought two glasses of red wine upstairs to the balcony.

Dennis was leaning against the railing, smoking.

When he saw her coming, he immediately put out the cigarette and took one of the glasses from her.

"Jared's so much more outgoing now." Stella looked down at her son, warmth filling her chest.

"He was always a bright kid." Dennis slipped his arm around her waist and drew her close.

Stella leaned against his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart.

"Dennis." She looked up at him. "Let's get married. And then... I want to give you a child."

She knew how much he loved kids.

These past six months, he had treated Jared like his own — teaching him to ride horses, teaching him to swim, reading him bedtime stories every night.

She wanted to give him a complete family.

Dennis paused when he heard this.

He looked down at her, his gaze open and full of feeling.

"I'd love nothing more than to marry you — we can go get the license tomorrow." Dennis touched her cheek, his tone completely serious. "But another child — no."

Stella blinked. "Why not?"

"I went to a private clinic this afternoon." Dennis set his glass on the nearby table and held her shoulders in both hands. "I had a small procedure done. A vasectomy."

Stella's eyes went wide. "Are you out of your mind? Why didn't you talk to me first?"

"There was nothing to talk about." Dennis pulled her into his arms. "I only need you. Childbirth is painful and dangerous, and I'm never letting you go through that again."

He paused and glanced down at Jared playing in the yard below.

"Besides, having Jared is enough for me. I want to give him everything — to make up for the three years he suffered. If we had another child, I'd be afraid he'd feel like we were playing favorites."

Stella's eyes filled with tears instantly.

She knew how controlling Dennis could be, but she also knew he loved her down to his core.

He had even thought through Jared's feelings this carefully and quietly removed every last worry she might have had.

"Dennis..." Stella wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his chest.

"Don't cry." Dennis lifted her chin and kissed her.

It was a deep, lingering kiss that tasted like the salt in the sea air and the warmth of the red wine.

A month later, they were getting ready to move back to their new home.

Stella was in Dennis's study, sorting through old files that didn't need to come with them. Dennis had gone to the office for a meeting, and she was alone in the room.

At the bottom of the bookcase, she found a locked black metal box.

It was heavy, with rust on the surface — clearly it had been sitting there for years.

She almost left it alone, but she found a small key tucked in the corner of a drawer.

Almost without thinking, she put the key in the lock.

A click. It opened.

Stella lifted the lid — and froze.

There were no company secrets inside. No valuables. Just a thick stack of photographs and documents.

She picked up the top photo.

It was a shot of her from behind, taken when she was eighteen, wearing her high school uniform, walking home from school. The edges of the photo had gone yellow with age.

She kept flipping through.

A photo of her at a college speech competition. A candid taken at the restaurant where she and Miles had their first date. A photo of her standing in the rain outside the courthouse, the day her father's company went bankrupt.

And then — a screenshot from a security camera. She, inside the small room at the psychiatric facility, sitting in the corner of the bed in a patient gown, staring blankly at nothing.

On the back of every single photo, a date was written in black ink.

The handwriting was bold and sharp. Unmistakably Dennis's.

He had been watching over her the whole time — and when they finally met again, he had played it so cool. Had actually negotiated terms with her.

This man could win an Oscar.

Stella laughed to herself even as warmth spread through her chest.

Right now, she had a thriving career, a man who loved her completely, and a healthy, happy son.

This was a life she hadn't even dared dream about.

— The End —