She Didn’t Fix Her Reputation. She Threw It Away. Chapter 09

She Didn’t Fix Her Reputation. She Threw It Away. Chapter 09

By the time the plane touched down in Portland, it was late.

I had been quiet during the five-hour flight.

I didn’t cry. I didn’t look back.

I just felt a profound sense of finality, as if a weight I’d been carrying my whole life had finally been set down.

A woman with a kind face and a shock of gray hair was there to meet me.

Her name was Edith.

On paper, she was the distant relative Ghost had created for me—a retired law professor.

She lived near Reed College in a redbrick cottage draped in ivy. The house felt quiet and warm.

“You’ll stay with me for now,” she said, helping me with my backpack. “We’ll sort out the dorms once you’ve had a chance to breathe.”

“Thank you, Professor Edith.”

“Just Edith.” She handed me a cup of hot tea. “I saw the TMZ report. That spoiled little bastard is disgusting.”

Her anger was so direct and uncomplicated that I felt myself relax for the first time in weeks.

“If Ghost hadn’t stopped me, the op-ed I wrote for *The New York Times* would already be in print,” she snorted.

She seemed even angrier about it than I was.

“When I saw those photos, my heart just broke for you.” Her eyes grew misty. “No one should ever be treated like that.”

I reached out and patted the back of her hand.

“It’s over, Edith.”

I paused, then tried out a new voice.

“Claire Novak is going to be just fine.”

She froze for a second, then her face broke into a warm smile and she squeezed my hand tightly.