Chapter 18
Sentencing took another month.
Eleanor received thirty years.
Victor received life.
Julian received eight years and restitution.
Serena received probation and cooperation requirements.
Some people online said I should forgive faster.
Some said I should have left sooner.
Some said I ruined a family dinner for attention.
People love judging a fire from outside the smoke.
I stopped reading comments.
I focused on rebuilding.
My company survived the audit.
Barely.
Daniel helped me restructure everything Julian touched.
Marcus became my operations director, though he insisted his official title should be “guy who stops dumb decisions.”
I said no.
He printed business cards anyway.
Aunt Brenda testified against Eleanor in a later civil case.
Then she asked if she could visit the cabin.
I hesitated.
She said, “I don’t expect forgiveness. I just want to apologize where your father can hear it.”
So we went.
She stood by the lake and cried.
“I should have seen her,” she whispered. “I should have seen what Eleanor was.”
Marcus looked at me.
I looked at the water.
“We all missed things.”
Brenda shook her head.
“You were lied to. I chose comfort.”
That was true.
But truth spoken plainly has a way of opening locked rooms.
I forgave her that day.
Not because she deserved it perfectly.
Because I did not want Eleanor living rent-free inside every Vance relative forever.
Brenda became the first person from Julian’s family allowed back into my life.
Carefully.
Slowly.
On my terms.
May you like
That mattered.
Everything now happened on my terms.
