Chapter 10 - THE WHITE ROSE
That evening, Maya and I held a small celebration on the rooftop terrace of our Design District office building.
The Dallas skyline glittered against the deep purple twilight—the same skyline that had felt so cold and hostile the night I sat bleeding in my Honda Civic outside the Grand Monarch Hotel.
Maya leaned against the steel railing, holding two glasses of sparkling white wine. She looked stunning in a tailored cream suit, her dark hair catching the city lights.
"A penny for your thoughts, partner?" Maya asked, handing me a glass.
"I was just thinking about the white rose," I said softly, looking out over the glowing highway below.
"Which one?"
"The one on Table Eight," I said, a soft, dry smile touching my lips. "The one my blood landed on when my father hit me. That night, I thought my life was over. I thought eighty-six people watched me get destroyed."
Maya clinked her glass against mine, the crystal ringing clear and pure in the night air. "Eighty-six people didn't watch you get destroyed, Evie. Eighty-six people watched you break the cage."
"To the cage," I said, lifting my glass.
"To the titanium," Maya corrected with a fierce, brilliant smile. "And to the grandmother who saw it all coming."
We drank under the open Texas sky.
My phone buzzed in my pocket—a notification from my Santa Fe contractor confirming that breaking ground on the Margaret Halden Cultural Center would begin on Monday morning.
I set my glass down, walked over to the edge of the terrace, and looked out over the city.
For thirty-five years, my family had tried to write my story. They had made me the punchline, the scapegoat, the unwanted daughter standing in the shadows of their golden son.
They had taken my money, my voice, and my blood.
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But in the end, they had forgotten one fundamental truth: a foundation built on stolen ground will always crumble, no matter how high you build the house.
I took a deep, clean breath of the night air, pulled my coat tightly around my shoulders, and stepped back inside the warm, glowing light of my own world.
