Chapter 13 - THE FINAL LETTER
The fireplace was sealed.
We had to remove several bricks before finding the compartment.
Inside was a small envelope.
My name was written across it.
My mother's handwriting.
I opened it with shaking fingers.
“My daughter,
If you found this, then the people I feared have finally shown you who they are.
I am sorry.
I wanted to protect you from this world.
But protection cannot last forever.
One day, you will have to choose who you want to become.
Please don't become cruel.
Don't become afraid.
And don't confuse revenge with justice.
Justice is making sure they can never hurt another person again.
Revenge is becoming like them.
Choose justice.
Always.
I love you.
Mom.”
I cried for a long time.
Then I noticed something beneath the letter.
A second document.
It was a deed.
The entire Hale estate had been transferred into my name years earlier.
Before my marriage.
Before Victor.
Before any of them realized what my mother had done.
I wasn't fighting for my inheritance.
I was defending something that had already been mine.
Daniel looked at the document.
“This changes everything.”
“How?”
“Victor never had legal authority over the property.”
“Then what happens to the mansion?”
“You own it.”
I stared at him.
The place where Victor had beaten me.
The place where his mother had laughed.
The place where his father had watched.
It was mine.
I smiled.
“Sell it.”
Daniel blinked.
“All of it?”
“All of it.”
Alessandro smiled.
“Good.”
But then my phone rang.
It was the hospital.
My heart dropped.
“What happened?”
The doctor's voice was urgent.
“Mrs. Hale, you need to come back immediately.”
“Is my baby okay?”
There was a pause.
“We're monitoring a complication.”
I couldn't breathe.
“Is she alive?”
“Yes.”
“She?”
The doctor hesitated.
“Your baby is a girl.”
I closed my eyes.
A daughter.
My mother had been right.
But the doctor continued.
“We need you here now.”
I looked at Alessandro.
“Let's go.”
The drive to the hospital felt endless.
When I arrived, the doctors rushed me into an examination room.
My daughter's heartbeat was unstable.
I held my stomach.
“Please.”
The doctor worked quickly.
Then suddenly the monitor changed.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
Stronger.
Stable.
I started crying.
The doctor smiled.
“She fought.”
I laughed through tears.
“She gets that from her grandmother.”
But then the door opened.
A police officer entered.
He looked serious.
“Mrs. Hale?”
“Yes?”
“We found something in Victor's prison file.”
“What?”
He placed a photograph on the table.
It showed Victor speaking to someone.
A man outside the prison.
The officer pointed.
“Your husband wasn't acting alone.”
I stared at the photograph.
The man standing beside Victor was someone I recognized.
Someone I trusted.
Someone who had helped me from the beginning.
May you like
My heart stopped.
It was Daniel.
