Chapter 4: The Unmasking
Chapter 4: The Unmasking
A year later, the news cycle had moved on, but the ripple effects remained. I received a letter from my mother. It wasn't an apology, but a desperate plea for money; with Preston in legal trouble and my father’s reputation in tatters, their "perfect" lifestyle had collapsed. They were selling the estate. They were alone.
I held the letter over the trash can. A year ago, the old Evelyn would have felt a twinge of guilt. She would have worried about their "status." But as I looked at Sophie in the living room, drawing a picture of us in our garden, that old version of me felt like a stranger.
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I dropped the letter into the trash.
I didn't need their approval. I didn't need their last name to define my worth. I had learned that the "golden child" was a lie my parents sold to hide their own failures, and I had been the one paying the cost. But the debt was paid in full. I had stopped being a victim of their legacy and had become the architect of my own.
