“Dad.”
I knelt beside him.
For thirty-two years, I had imagined my father as a blank space.
A mystery.
Now I had him.
Broken.
Manipulative.
Guilty.
And human.
I took his hand.
“You don’t.”
He nodded.
“I know.”
“But you
can earn something better if you survive.”
His eyes filled.
“What?”
“A chance.”
Paramedics rushed toward us.
Hayes was lifted onto a stretcher.
Russell was taken next.
Before they carried him away, he caught my hand.
“Emily.”
“What?”
“I never deserved you.”
I stared at him.
Then I said the one thing nobody expected.
“Maybe none of us deserved what happened to us.”
His eyes filled.
“But that doesn’t mean we can’t decide what happens next.”
—
# PART 7 — **THE WILL THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING**
Six months later, the Langford estate no longer existed in the way everyone expected.
The government seized portions connected to illegal activity.
Victims received restitution.
