A radiant smile broke across Roxanne’s face, lighting up her eyes as she threw her arms around Theodore’s neck. "Finally," she breathed against his shoulder, a soft sob of pure relief escaping her lips.
Christian’s head whipped toward her, his wild eyes wide with denial. "I will not accept this!" he roared, his voice echoing off the courtroom walls.
Roxanne didn’t give him a single second of her attention. She kept her eyes fixed on the judicial bench, watching the heavy black ink glide across the parchment as the judge signed the decree and handed it down to the bailiff for filing.
Glistening tears welled in her eyes, blurring the sight of the document.
Six years. Six years of manipulation, mind games, and emotional torture, shattered with a single stroke of a pen. She exhaled a long, trembling breath, a laugh bubbling up past the tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Don’t you dare celebrate!" Christian snapped, his voice thick with unhinged rage. "I am appealing this biased joke of a decision! And if that fails, I’ll get you back myself. Whatever it takes, Roxanne, I swear it!"
The judge paused, her hand hovering over her ledger as her dark brows pulled tightly together. She looked at Christian with absolute disdain.
"Mr. Westbrook, one more threat in this courtroom and I will hold you in contempt," the judge declared, her tone sharp as steel. "Given your conduct today, I strongly advise you to seek professional help."
With a sharp strike of her gavel, she stood up and swept out of the courtroom through her private chambers.
Christian lunged forward, his face contorted and trembling with fury, but he slammed straight into a wall of navy uniforms as two court officers caught him by the shoulders. "Roxanne isn’t going anywhere!" he screamed, thrashing against their grip. "She belongs to me! Me alone!"
Roxanne turned her back on the chaos, adjusting the strap of her leather handbag over her shoulder as she faced Theodore and her lawyer. "Thank you so much, Harry. For everything."
Theodore merely looked at Christian with cold indifference before turning away.
"Who the hell are you to tell me what to do?" Christian spat, his chest heaving as the officers held him back. "You showed up yesterday and think you have a say in her life? Never!"
Theodore’s jaw set into a hard line, but he didn’t waste another breath on him.
Roxanne reached out, gently wrapping her hand around Theodore’s forearm, feeling the tight tension in his muscles relax under her touch. "Ignore him, Theo. Let’s go."
"He’s not worth the stress," Harry agreed, ushering them toward the exit doors.
"Don’t you dare walk away from me!" Christian’s voice shrieked behind them, echoing down the high ceilings. "I’m warning you, Roxanne! This isn’t over! If you ever want peace, you better resign from Vance Enterprises today! Because when I’m through with them, that entire company will be bankrupt. Even Richard, who thinks he’s so invincible, will be sleeping on the streets! You’ll have no choice but to come crawling back into my arms!"
Roxanne stopped just before the threshold. She turned slowly, looking back at the man she used to fear, a dry, pitying scoff slipping from her lips.
"Even when you’ve lost everything, you still manage to sit on your pathetic high horse," she said, her voice cool. "You seem to forget that I just reclaimed my father’s house from you. Richard will never be homeless."
Christian’s face twisted into absolute poison, the thick veins on his neck bulging against his collar. "Never!" he barked, his voice cracking. "He won’t dare set foot inside that house! That home belongs to us! He isn’t allowed through those doors, and that is final!"
Roxanne shook her head, not bothering to give him the satisfaction of another argument.
"Go on and walk out!" Christian shouted after her, his voice frantic as the distance between them grew. "I’ll be waiting when you come crawling back!"
A soft laugh escaped Roxanne’s lips as they stepped through the doors into the grand hallway. "He really lives in his own fantasy world," she murmured to Harry and Theodore.
Behind them, the brass handles rattled as Christian tried to give chase, his hurried footsteps slapping against the marble floor, until he slammed directly into a line of uniformed officers blocking the corridor.
"What is this? Get out of my way!" Christian barked, his eyes wild as he tried to push through.
"We can’t do that, sir," the lead officer said firmly, planting his boots. "The court ordered a one-thousand-foot perimeter. This is immediate enforcement."
"Nonsense!" Christian roared, shoving against the officer’s chest. "Move!"
The officers didn’t budge an inch, locking their arms together into an unyielding wall. Christian stumbled back a step, catching his breath before charging forward again, but the barrier held fast, trapping him in the hallway.
Over their shoulders, his desperate gaze locked onto Roxanne as she stepped out of the courthouse doors and into the bright afternoon sunlight. Panic seized his throat. If she got into that car, if she drove away now, she was gone forever.
Outside, the warm breeze caught Roxanne’s hair, sweeping it across her face. She felt the heavy weight of his stare prickling against her spine. She paused near the passenger side of her car, glancing back at the courthouse entrance once before turning to Harry.
She let out a slow breath, feeling the cool air fill her lungs like a fresh start. "What happens now?"
"You get a fresh start and live your life on your own terms," Harry said, a warm smile breaking across his professional posture. "The official certificate will be delivered to your address by tomorrow morning. As far as the law is concerned, you are a free woman, Roxanne."
Free. The word echoed through her mind.
For six years she had forgotten what it felt like to breathe without asking permission. Today, for the first time, the future belonged to her.
A smile broke across Roxanne’s lips, radiant and weightless. Emotion overwhelmed her. She threw her arms around Theodore first, then turned and hugged Harry just as tightly.
Stepping back, she reached deep into her bag, her fingers wrapping around her phone. "I need to call Richard."
She unlocked her phone and tapped Richard’s name.
There was only one person she wanted to tell. She was finally free.
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