Chapter 129 What We Can’t Return To

Katelyn’s POV The apartment was quiet that evening. The kind of quiet that feels too heavy, too hollow, like the world had exhaled and forgotten to breathe back in. I sat at my desk, laptop open, fingers hovering above the keyboard as the soft hum of the ceiling fan filled the room. The glow from the screen cast long shadows across my notes, newspaper clippings, and voice recorder. My heart ached just looking at Rachel’s photo, tucked into the corner of my pinboard. Her smile felt like it belonged to another lifetime. Xander’s words wouldn’t stop echoing in my head. “Clear her name, Katelyn. She deserves that much.” And he was right. Whatever the rest of the world said, whatever Harland tried to twist, Rachel deserved more than what she got. She deserved more than being reduced to a footnote in someone else’s scandal. She had built her company from the ground up with heart, fire, and brilliance. She hadn’t just been smart, she’d been revolutionary. And yet all anyone wanted to remember