Chapter 10 - Facing the Past
The downtown federal courthouse was surrounded by a swarm of reporters, camera crews, and flashing lights as our black Maybach pulled up to the main steps. My palms were sweating, and my heart hammered against my ribs, but as Alessandro opened my door and offered his hand, I took a deep breath and stepped out into the blinding light.
Liam walked closely behind us, acting as my anchor while private security formed an impenetrable wall around us.
As we walked up the stone steps, my uncle emerged from the courthouse doors surrounded by his own legal team, looking smug and confident. When his eyes landed on me walking hand-in-hand with Alessandro Vitali, the color drained completely from his face.
“Elizabeth!” my uncle shouted, stepping forward with his arms spread wide in fake paternal joy. “Thank god you’re safe! That man has brainwashed you—”
“Save the performance, Uncle,” I interrupted, my voice ringing clear and steady across the courthouse steps, cutting through the noise of the reporters. “You didn't file that missing persons report because you care about me. You did it because my twenty-sixth birthday is in three days, and you needed to lock down my inheritance before the federal audit exposed your embezzlement.”
The crowd of reporters erupted into chaos, microphones thrust forward as camera shutters clicked furiously.
My uncle’s face twisted into a mask of pure fury as he realized his entire scheme had collapsed. “You ungrateful little liar! You have no proof of any of this!”
“Actually, she has all the proof she needs,” Alessandro said smoothly, stepping forward and handing a thick manila folder directly to a federal prosecutor standing near the courthouse entrance. “Complete financial records of offshore accounts, forged signatures, and documented evidence linking your shell companies to the suspicious car accident that claimed her parents' lives.”
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The color vanished entirely from my uncle’s face as federal marshals stepped forward, placing handcuffs on his wrists before leading him away in front of the flashing cameras.
I stood there on the courthouse steps, watching him go, feeling a crushing weight lift off my shoulders for the first time in three years.
