June would've knocked her blackmailer down the steps, accidentally killing her and running away before anyone spotted her. Her next book would've been about a woman who killed a blackmailer and got away with it. Her critics would've been like "She really captures guilt with this character" and her defenders would be all "See! This has nothing to do with Athena". πππ
I liked your analogy on how we root for awful characters in spite of knowing they're bad. I can't say I rooted for June but she just seemed like the kind of person who fails up and gets away with crap so I wouldn't have minded an ending where she does get away with it but then has to live with herself afterwards.