The Mistress: Her revenge [18+]

Finale

ESMERALDA BERTILLON

I did get away. It wasn't the kind of escape Pete had in mind—there weren't any great drinks or tropical getaways involved—but at least there were no murder trials, no suffocating courtrooms, and no Dani clawing at my sanity.

Instead, I found myself here. The cemetery was eerily quiet, the kind of silence that seeps into your bones and makes you feel like you're the only person alive in the world. Kyle's grave was tucked under a canopy of oaks, a single headstone standing solitary among the manicured grass. It had taken me too long to come here, too long to face the truth of what happened, but with Dani behind bars, I finally felt like I could.

I walked up to the tombstone, my guilt and regret making each step feel like a struggle. There was a bitter twist to the air, one that stung the back of my throat as I knelt beside the grave. My fingers brushed over the cold stone, tracing the letters of his name, and for a moment, I just sat there in the stillness.

"Kyle..." I whispered, my voice barely above a breath. "I miss you."

It was the truth. God, how I missed him. There was a hole in my chest where he used to be, an emptiness that I had tried to ignore, but standing here, it hit me like a punch to the gut. And it wasn't just the loss of him—it was the guilt that came with it. I hadn't been here for him, not when it mattered most, not when Dani was out there running free, and that felt unbearable.

"I'm sorry it took me this long," I said, swallowing the lump in my throat. "I couldn't face you before. Not when she was still out there. It didn't feel right. But it's done now. Dani's behind bars, and she looked... well, she looked crazy, Kyle." A bitter laugh escaped me. "She screamed and cursed when they sentenced her, tried to take it out on me. You would've hated it. She didn't go down quietly."

I could still picture it—the wild fury in Dani's eyes, the unhinged way she shouted at me in the courtroom, swearing that this wasn't over. But it was over. It had to be. There was no way she could hurt anyone from behind those prison bars, not anymore.

"I don't know if this is the closure you deserved, but... it's something," I said, glancing up at the overcast sky. "I hope you're okay over there. Wherever you are. I hope they're treating you right, like you deserve."

A gust of wind blew through the trees, and for a brief moment, it felt like he was there, like he was listening. Maybe it was just my imagination, but I clung to that feeling, letting it bring me some small sense of comfort.

"I'll come back," I promised, brushing away a tear that had slipped down my cheek. "In a few weeks, maybe. We'll spend more time together then. But until then... be happy, okay? Wherever you are, be happy. You deserve that much."

I rose to my feet slowly, my legs feeling heavy and weak. My eyes lingered on his name for a few moments longer before I finally turned to leave. The tears came harder as I walked away, but I didn't try to stop them. I let them fall, let the grief and the sadness pour out of me because this was the end.

I had gotten what I wanted—justice. But at what cost?

As I reached the gates of the cemetery, I glanced back one last time, whispering under my breath, "Goodbye, Kyle."

And with that, I walked away, leaving him—and the past—behind.

________

Sebastian's mansion had always carried a weight of its own, a ghost of its former life when Dani still ruled these halls. Now, as I sat watching Sebastian in the kitchen, it felt surreal to think about everything that had happened to bring us here. The clinking of pots and the faint scent of garlic and herbs drifted through the air, grounding me in the present, yet my mind wandered, tracing the steps that led us to this fragile moment.