They needed therapy.
Anger.
Questions.
Time.
The movies would have skipped that part.
Real life could not.
Gregory remained missing for eleven days after the archive surfaced.
Then he tried crossing into Canada using false identification.
Federal agents arrested him at a private airfield in Vermont.
He carried three passports.
Cash.
Encrypted drives.
And a vial of the same sedative found in Victoria’s blood.
The case took two years.
Gregory Pierce was convicted on conspiracy, obstruction, fraud, witness intimidation, and multiple other charges tied to Meridian.
Evidence linking him directly to a murder never emerged because no murder had occurred in Megan’s case.
Two witnesses connected to Meridian had died under suspicious circumstances, but prosecutors could not prove Gregory caused those deaths.
Richard Hawthorne was dead and beyond prosecution.
His role became public.
Hawthorne Global lost billions in market value.
Victoria testified.
Not under immunity.
She admitted withholding Megan’s information seven years earlier.
Prosecutors considered obstruction.
Ultimately they charged her with a lesser records-related offense tied to one historical omission, resolved through a deferred agreement because her cooperation was extensive and began before investigators knew the full conspiracy.
Some people said billionaire privilege.
Others said appropriate prosecutorial discretion.
Taylor did not pretend to know.
He only knew Victoria had finally told the truth when telling it cost her almost everything.
She resigned as CEO before the criminal trial.
The board tried convincing her to remain.
She refused.
“I spent too long believing leadership meant preserving the company.”
She told shareholders:
“Sometimes leadership means allowing the company you inherited to become smaller so the truth can become larger.”
The line appeared everywhere.
Taylor saw it on business channels and rolled his eyes.
Sophie thought it sounded cool.
Megan called it “very Victoria.”
That surprised Taylor.
“You like her?”
Megan considered.
“I didn’t say that.”
Taylor laughed.
Progress.
Hawthorne Global survived.
Barely.
Its medical division was sold.
A victim restitution fund eventually reached hundreds of millions, much of it contributed through Hawthorne family assets and insurance settlements.
Victoria kept enough money to remain wealthier than Taylor could comprehend.
But she sold the private jet.
Two houses.
A yacht Taylor had not known she owned.
When asked whether this was sacrifice, Victoria said:
“No. Sacrifice is losing a child because a corporation delayed a recall. Selling a yacht is accounting.”
Taylor respected that answer.
He resigned from Hawthorne.
Victoria did not try stopping him.
He took a job with a hospital infrastructure company.
Less money.
Better sleep.
He and Megan began rebuilding something.
Not the marriage they had.
That marriage belonged to two people in their early thirties with a baby and a cramped apartment.
They could not restore it.
They started over.
Coffee.
Walks.
Co-parenting.
Arguments.
Therapy.
Sophie asking impossible questions and refusing easy answers.
Megan had nightmares.
Taylor had trust problems.
One night, six months after the reunion, Taylor finally asked the question he had avoided.
“Why didn’t you contact me after Gregory went underground?”
Megan looked toward him.
They sat on the back steps of Taylor’s townhouse.
Sophie asleep upstairs.
“I was afraid.”
“Of him?”
“Of you.”
Taylor stared.
Megan’s eyes filled.
“I had been gone seven years.”
“You built a life.”
“I thought maybe coming back would destroy it.”
Taylor looked away.
“That wasn’t your decision to make.”
“I know.”
He almost snapped at the phrase.
Then laughed.
“What?”
“You sound like Victoria.”
Megan groaned.
“Take it back.”
They both laughed.
Then became serious.
Megan whispered:
“I’m sorry.”
Taylor nodded.
This time he could hear it.
Not forgive everything.
Hear it.
“I hated you.”
“I know.”
“I said things about you when Sophie couldn’t hear.”
Megan nodded.
“I probably deserved some.”
“No.”
Taylor looked at her.
“You didn’t.”