Mansion - NF, Fleurie; Diploma -
Connor Price, Nic D, GRAHAM
Diane slept little that night.
Not out of fear, or heartbreak, or exhaustion, those days were gone. What kept her awake was clarity. A sharp, almost frightening clarity that cut through every lingering thread tying her to Jeffrey Black.
By morning, the sunlight filtering through her curtains felt different. Warmer. Braver.
She stood at her kitchen counter, stirring tea absently as her phone buzzed.
Alexander:
Saw the news. He came to your house last night, didn't he?
Diane exhaled slowly.
Diane:
He did. It didn't change anything.
A moment passed.
Alexander:
Good. Don't let him drag you back into his chaos.
A faint smile touched her lips.
Alexander never crowded her. Never pushed. He simply… steadied her, without trying to own her strength. He was the kind of presence people felt without seeing, the type Jeffrey had always tried to imitate but never understood.
She set her phone down and lifted her chin.
Today needed to be decisive.
At Dalton Industries, whispers followed her, but not the pitying ones from weeks past. These were curious. Respectful. Almost reverent.
Diane walked into the boardroom with the posture of someone who had finally remembered exactly who she was.
Her parents' empire.
Her leadership.
Her name.
She took her seat at the head of the table, the place she hadn't occupied since stepping down months ago.
The directors exchanged glances.
"Ms. Dalton," one of them began carefully, "we weren't expecting...."
"You should have," she replied calmly. "There are decisions that need to be made, and I intend to make them."
Silence rippled around the room.
Not fear,
Recognition.
For the next hour, Diane dissected proposals, rejected weak contracts, approved restructuring, and restored order to a company that had been drifting in her absence. Every instruction she gave was crisp and deliberate.
It wasn't revenge.
It was reclamation.
When the meeting adjourned, she stepped into the hallway to find Clara waiting nervously.
"Ma'am… someone is here. He says it's urgent."
Diane didn't need to ask who.
Jeffrey's presence had always been loud, even when he didn't speak.
She nodded once. "Send him to the empty conference room."
---
Jeffrey arrived furious.
Not raging like the night before, no, this was quieter, more dangerous. A different kind of desperation. His eyes were dark, his movements sharp, as though everything inside him was unraveling faster than he could stop it.
"You can't cut me out," he said immediately. "I won't let you."
Diane's expression did not shift. "You already did that, Jeffrey. The moment you let your ego cost you everything."
He laughed, a short, cracked sound. "So that's it? You're just… done with me?"
"I was done the moment you stopped being someone I could trust."
His jaw clenched. "Is this because of him?"
Diane's brows lifted. "Because of who?"
"That man," Jeffrey spat. "The one who's always lurking around you. The one who suddenly appears at the gala, at the charity events, who everyone whispers about like he's some ghost king. Alexander whatever-his-name-is."
Diane's voice lowered, controlled and lethal.
"Be very careful what you accuse me of."
Jeffrey took a step closer, his breath unsteady. "You think he's better than me?"
She didn't flinch. "Yes."
The word hit him like a punch.
Not shouted.
Not emotional.
Just true.
"Alexander doesn't need the spotlight," she said. "He doesn't need validation. He doesn't throw tantrums or seek apologies he never earned. He knows who he is without tearing everyone else down."
Jeffrey swallowed hard, his fists trembling.
"And me?" he whispered.
Diane looked him in the eyes, and the pity he expected never came.
"You," she said gently, "are a man who has never learned how to stand alone."
His face crumpled, not in sadness, but in humiliation. A humiliation that ran deeper than the scandal, deeper than the headlines, deeper than anything she had ever said to him before.
Because this time, it wasn't about Alexander.
It wasn't about the board.
It wasn't about the press.
It was about Jeffrey finally seeing himself clearly, and hating the reflection.
Diane reached for the door.
"This is the last time we have this conversation," she said. "We're done, Jeffrey. Not out of anger, not out of revenge. Out of growth."
He stared at her, breathing hard.
"You're choosing him."
"I'm choosing me."
She opened the door. "Goodbye, Jeffrey."
He didn't move at first. Couldn't. The world he'd built, sloppy, fragile, full of illusions, was collapsing, and for the first time, he had no one to blame.
Security stepped in quietly.
Diane didn't watch him leave.
She walked away, slowly, confidently, deliberately, toward the life she was finally ready to claim.
And somewhere in the quiet corners of the city, Alexander saw the news alert that Jeffrey Black had been escorted out of Dalton Industries.
He smiled once, barely.
The world was finally recognizing the woman he had known all along.