Chapter 816

“Right away.”

The lawyer amended the agreement and printed out a new copy. Baillie had just finished his call when the lawyer approached him, explained the situation, and asked him to sign again.

“Don’t worry, I’ll destroy the original agreement once you’ve signed this one,” Ivy said, anticipating his distrust.

To Baillie, the debt was so astronomical that a million here or there made little difference. He would never be able to pay it back in his lifetime. But he understood her meaning: she wasn’t trying to cheat him.

He paused for a moment, then took the pen and signed his name again, pressing his thumbprint below the signature. The new agreement was brought to Ivy, and she did the same. The contract was now legally binding.

Baillie watched, a sense of finality washing over him. He knew that from this day forward, he would never be able to look Ivy in the eye as an equal. Anytime, anywhere, she could produce this document and he would be stripped of all dignity, all power to resist. But he had no other choice. This was the only path left for him.

“I’ll destroy the original now, in front of you,” Ivy said, feeding the unsigned document into a paper shredder.

Baillie remained silent, clutching the agreement that was essentially his indenture, his emotions a tangled mess. When you’ve been beaten down and humiliated to this extent, you lose the capacity to react.

Seeing his blank expression, Ivy asked, “Do you have any objections?”

He seemed to snap out of his trance. “No,” he said, his voice low and hoarse. “I just don’t understand…”

“Don’t understand what?” Ivy asked, her seated position still conveying an air of authority.

“You hate us, don’t you? Why would you help us? Forty-five million is not a small amount of money.”

He knew the Ludwigs had the power and resources to shield Ivy from his problems. Yet she had chosen to intervene. Forty-five million was a staggering sum, even for the wealthy.

A faint smile touched Ivy’s lips. She stood up, and Jamison rose with her, taking the coat Boyd handed him and draping it over his wife’s shoulders.

Ivy smiled her thanks at her husband, then turned back to Baillie. “I stopped hating you a long time ago,” she said, her voice light and clear. “You’re the ones who feel so guilty about what you did to me that you’ve imagined me as some kind of vengeful monster.”

Baillie’s eyes narrowed. It was as if she had looked directly into his soul.

“The moment I gave The Windsor Group back to you, the past was over. I don’t hate you. We’re just not close.”

She adjusted the coat on her shoulders. “The Windsor family has always valued money and status above all else. You even treated your own children as assets. And in the end, all your scheming brought you nothing but ruin. To me, money is just an object. I have something far more valuable than wealth. Forty-five million is just a number.”

“Consider it the price of peace,” she said with another small smile. She took her husband’s hand, their fingers intertwining. “I’m not in a rush to get the money back. I’ll be charging interest, of course. You can pay me back slowly, once you’re back on your feet.”

A wave of bitter regret washed over Baillie. In that moment, he saw that Ivy had surpassed him in every way–not just in wealth, but in character. He, and the entire Windsor family, owed her an apology. But he knew she no longer needed it. She had risen from the ashes, stronger and more resilient than ever, immune to the opinions and attacks of others.

Still, he had to say it. “That night… when Dad was dying… he kept looking at the door. He couldn’t speak, but I know… he was waiting for you. He knew he was wrong. He wanted to see you, to tell you he was sorry.”

A flicker of emotion crossed Ivy’s face, but she said nothing. She wasn’t moved. They hadn’t called her that night. What was the point of telling her this now? To make her feel guilty? To make her forgive them?

Her silence was his answer. Baillie gave a helpless smile. It was true; their apologies meant nothing to her now.

“Don’t worry,” he said, his voice heavy with resignation. “I won’t bother you again. As for the money… I’ll pay back what I can. I’ll take care of Mom. Once she’s back on her feet, we’ll leave.”