“Just getting by,” Barbara answered gloomily.
Dan was divorced again. Megan was unemployed.
Khloe had walked away with a fortune.
“And your former daughter-in-law?” the acquaintance asked. “Do you still talk to her?”
Barbara forced a bitter smile. “No.
She’s a stranger to us now.”
As she said it, she remembered her own phrase—separate personal and professional—and felt the sting of realizing how perfectly it had come back to her.
Sarah had protected her company with systems.
Barbara, who had used “family” as an excuse for exploitation, saw that same logic boomerang back through Khloe and Megan.
Sarah never had to lift a finger.
She simply lived by principle, and the toxic structure the Millers built collapsed under its own weight.
That evening, Sarah stood at her office window, looking out at glittering city lights. A quiet smile formed on her lips.
I did the right thing, she thought.
I have no regrets.
The past was over.
And the future—finally—was hers.
