Chapter 7
The police moved fast.
They traced the payments. They found witnesses. And they uncovered a web of lies my uncle had built over decades.
But he was gone.
He’d vanished the moment he realized I had found the truth.
Eleanor recovered slowly. But she was worried.
"He knows we have the evidence," she said. "He has nothing left to lose."
I stayed close to her. Day and night.
One evening, as the sun set, the power in the house went out.
Complete darkness.
I heard a sound from downstairs.
Footsteps. Slow. Heavy.
I grabbed the heavy letter opener from Eleanor’s desk.
I walked into the hallway.
And there he stood.
My uncle. Face twisted in shadow.
"You ruined everything," he hissed. "Everything I built."
"You stole everything," I said, stepping between him and Eleanor’s room. "You stole me. You stole her happiness. You stole twenty years of our lives."
He stepped closer.
"I should have made sure you were never found."
"But you didn’t," I said. "Because you didn’t know about the star. You didn’t know I carried proof on my own body."
He lunged.
I didn’t flinch. I stood my ground.
And then the lights blazed on.
Police poured into the hallway. Guns raised.
He froze. Defeated.
He looked at me, hatred in his eyes. But beneath that... shame.
"He’s your blood," he said. "How can you do this?"
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"You’re the one who forgot what family means," I said. "I’m just taking back what belongs to us."
They led him away in cuffs.
