Chapter 136: The final choice

Later that evening, after the triplets had gone to bed, Selen sat in her home office staring into a blank wall in her office. Her laptop was open but she barely noticed when the screen went off due to inactivity.

Her phone vibrated, and she answered the voice call almost immediately. The line crackled before Patrick’s voice came through.

"Selen, I cannot sit back and watch him destroy himself," Patrick said, his voice low, flat, and completely serious.

"I am breaking confidentiality protocols because you need to know the truth. Clancy orchestrated the entire backing behind the corporate takeover of your former department’s crisis with the private art group months ago.

The moment he realized you were facing an internal collapse that would cause you a direct hit, he used his own primary holdings to underwrite the bid offer. He guaranteed your career security and protected you from the ministry’s audit without ever putting his name on the documents. He did it completely to look after you from the shadows." Patrick said.

Selen sat back in her chair, a profound shocked expression on her face as the words hit her. "He is also behind making a path for you at Vanguard International Art Group. He put you into the company’s heart before they even realised that they needed you" Patrick Said.

He told her everything. And by the time she ended the call, her mind was spinning. Clancy had not been trying to control her or use his family’s toxic history as leverage.

He had used his own massive resources, through Patrick’s careful execution, to quietly build a shield around her career, expecting absolutely nothing in return.

***Following Day**

The next morning before Selen could get ready, an official courier arrived at the Kent estate, delivering a heavy legal folder from Clancy’s attorneys.

Selen opened it at her desk, her hands trembling slightly as she scanned the notarized parameters. Clancy was not asking her to return to him, and he was not demanding that she break her silence.

Instead, he had legally signed over half of his entire corporate company to David, Daniel, and Diana, locking the massive assets into a trust that would guarantee their financial future permanently.

He was giving them everything he owned, completely stripping away his own capital to ensure his children were secure.

**Clancy**

At his private residence in London, Clancy quietly prepared to leave her forever. His packed luggage sat near the front door, his passport and transfer logistics laid out neatly on the counter.

He had spent eight long years on the outside of her life, and seeing her with Newton had broken the final shred of his expectation.

He was not leaving out of anger or an old grudge, he was leaving because the empty distance between them was completely tearing him apart. He had totally given up on the dream of their reconciliation.

***Selen**

Sitting alone in her quiet home, looking at the trust documents and remembering Patrick’s words, Selen realized that Clancy had truly changed.

He was no longer the arrogant man from their past who hid behind his family’s pride. He had become completely selfless, protecting her from the shadows and signing over his life’s work to their children without demanding a single thing for himself.

The realization hit her with an intense, terrifying velocity. Her defensive boundaries had paralyzed her for weeks, but now, the safety she had fought so hard to preserve felt completely empty without him.

She checked her phone, her heart dropping as she realized it was already afternoon. His flight to Madrid was scheduled to leave within the hour according to the time Patrick had told her the previous night.

Selen sprinted out of the house, completely abandoning her tasks, and threw herself into the back of her vehicle. "Drive to the airport right now!" she shouted to her driver, her voice cracking with a raw panic she had not felt in nearly a decade.

"Take the fastest route and do not stop for anything!" she ordered.

The vehicle sped down the winding Kent roads, navigating the weekend traffic with terrifying speed. Selen sat in the back seat, her breathing shallow and ragged as she stared at the digital clock on the dashboard.

The minutes were slipping away with absolute speed, each tick sounding like a door closing on her future.

She thought about her speechlessness in the foyer, her silent rejection on the veranda, and how her own fear of facing the past had driven the only man who truly loved her to pack his bags and leave England forever.

When the car finally pulled up to the main terminal departure curb, Selen did not even wait for the driver to open her door. She pushed it wide open, stepped out onto the concrete, and ran straight into the crowded airport building.

Her breath was completely gone, her chest burning as she pushed past the sea of travelers and rushed toward the security gates.

She looked up at the massive digital departure board, her eyes scanning the international flights to Madrid until she located his flight status. The word on the screen lit up in red: BOARDING COMPLETED.

Selen stopped dead in her tracks in the middle of the terminal as her mind completely locked up. Her heart shattered into pieces as she stared at the flashing text on the monitor.

She looked at the heavy security barriers leading to the jet bridges, her eyes watering as a terrifying emptiness took over her chest.

She had broken her silence too late, and as she stood alone in the crowd, she lost all hope of catching up to him because to her, he had already left.

She stood frozen by the gates, her hands trembling as she stared up at the letters on the screen.

She had spent years controlling every aspect of her life, keeping everyone at a safe distance under her direct supervision, but her calculated walls had ultimately cost her everything.

She looked down at her empty hands, remembering the trust paperwork sitting on her desk and the quiet devotion Clancy had shown by securing her position from the shadows.

He had truly walked away from his pride, his family’s corporate legacy, and his own capital just to ensure her peace of mind. He had changed completely, and she had let him go without offering a single word of the truth.

Selen leaned against a pillar, the exhaustion and sorrow completely taking over as the realization settled deep into her chest that she was too late.