CHAPTER 5 — WHAT WE CHOOSE TO KEEP
Months later, the world had moved on.
Cross Holdings no longer existed.
Its pieces were absorbed, rebuilt, restructured—
Under Montrose Global.
Stronger.
Cleaner.
Honest.
Isabella sat in a quiet café.
No security.
No headlines.
Just sunlight… and peace.
Across from her sat a young woman—nervous, hopeful.
“I heard… you built everything from nothing,” the girl said.
Isabella smiled softly.
“No,” she replied.
“I built it from being underestimated.”
The girl leaned forward.
“How do you survive people like that?”
Isabella thought for a moment.
Then answered:
“You don’t survive them.”
“You outgrow them.”
Outside, the world moved as it always had.
But for Isabella Montrose…
Something had changed.
She hadn’t just reclaimed her power.
She had reclaimed herself.
And that…
May you like
Was the only victory that ever mattered.
THE END
