CHAPTER 4: AFTER THE FALL (ENDING)
No one moved for a long time.
Not because they were unsure.
But because they understood that something irreversible had finished happening.
Beatrice stood alone in the center of the ballroom.
For the first time, she was not the one controlling attention.
She was being observed.
Nathan straightened slowly.
His voice was quiet.
“Take the guests out.”
Security hesitated.
Then obeyed.
The ballroom began to empty like a collapsing empire.
Beatrice turned to Nathan one last time.
“You’re choosing her over me?”
Nathan didn’t answer quickly.
Because the truth wasn’t about choosing.
It was about recognizing what had already been chosen years ago.
“I’m choosing him,” he said.
Silence.
Beatrice laughed once.
But it broke halfway.
Anna crouched slightly, keeping Leo close.
Not claiming him.
Not pulling him.
Just steadying him.
As if saying:
You don’t have to fall anymore.
Beatrice looked at Leo.
Her voice softened for the first time.
“Leo… I am your mother.”
Leo looked at her.
Long.
Carefully.
Then shook his head.
Not violently.
Not cruelly.
Just certain.
“You were supposed to be,” he said.
That was all.
Beatrice closed her eyes.
And for the first time that night—
May you like
she didn’t fight the truth.
She just stood inside it.
