For the first time in months, Aria woke up to silence.

No news alerts.
No court summons.
No calls from Dominic.

Just the sharp, clean stillness of being alone.

And it didn’t feel like loss.
It felt like clarity.

She stood at the floor-to-ceiling windows of her penthouse—hers now, solely. The light had changed. Or maybe shehad. She could feel the difference in her spine, in the calmness of her breath.

That calm didn’t last long.

A knock on the door.

Lila.

Holding a sealed envelope.

“What’s this?” Aria asked.

“From a woman named Vivian Hale. Said it was urgent. And private.”

Aria opened it slowly. Inside: a letter on thick ivory paper and a business card.

Vivian Hale — Executive Director, Monarch Capital.

The card was stapled to a handwritten note:

**Aria —
Marcus left behind more than secrets.
He left a vacant seat at a very old, very exclusive table.
One that shaped cities and swallowed names.
You deserve a place there.
But only if you’re ready to stop surviving—and start leading.

Call me. – V.**

Aria stared at the letter.

Monarch Capital wasn’t just a firm—it was a legacy machine. A shadow council of old money, backroom deals, and generational power. Marcus had been one of its youngest members.

And now?

That seat was empty.

“Are you seriously thinking about this?” Lila asked.

“I don’t know,” Aria replied. “It’s everything I swore I’d never be part of.”

“But it’s also everything Marcus tried to keep from you.”

Exactly.

An hour later, Aria sat across from Vivian in a rooftop garden restaurant, shielded from cameras and crowded egos.

“You earned this,” Vivian said simply. “Not because you destroyed my brother. Because you survived him with your soul intact.”

“And what does Monarch want from me?”

“Vision. Strategy. Access. You’d be the youngest woman to ever sit at the table. You’ll make enemies. But you’ll have power they can’t touch.”

Aria sipped her coffee.

“Can I run my company? Build the foundation?”

“Absolutely. This isn’t a job. It’s a throne.”

She didn’t answer right away.

Vivian leaned in. “He underestimated you. We all did. But that ends now.”

Aria stood.

“I’ll think about it.”

Vivian smiled. “You’ve already decided. You just haven’t admitted it yet.”

Back in her office, Aria stared at her reflection in the window.

No Dominic.

No Hale.

Just her.

But when she sat at her desk, something was different.

The chair didn’t feel empty anymore.

It felt earned.