Chapter12
“Charlotte…”
Michael stepped forward, wanting to comfort her, but the words caught in his throat.
She waved him off, signaling that she didn’t need it. Her body was still trembling, but her eyes – her eyes burned with a fire that no one could put out.
Right there in front of us, she picked up her phone and dialed a number.
It rang for a long time before a drunken, impatient male voice answered.
“Who the hell is this? Don’t you know I’m busy?”
It was Brandon Harrington.
“Brandon, it’s me. Charlotte.” Her voice was calm. Too calm.
“Oh, Charlotte,” he drawled, his tone easing slightly, but still dripping with superiority. “What is it? Out of cash again? I’ll tell my assistant to wire you two hundred grand later, that should-”
“Brandon.” She cut him off, her voice suddenly sharp. “Five years ago… did a boy named Jack jump off the school roof because of you?”
There was silence on the other end.
After a few seconds, Brandon finally scoffed, his tone dismissive and faintly irritated.
“What are you bringing that up for? That was ages ago. Some weak little nerd-couldn’t handle the pressure, offed himself. How is that my problem?”
“Not your problem?” Charlotte’s voice rose, cracking with fury and grief that had built over two lifetimes. “You cornered him in the bathroom with your friends and beat him bloody! You spread rumors, dragged his name through the dirt-just because he was smarter than you, better than you! Brandon, you destroyed him. Do you even understand what you did?”
“Watch your tone!” Brandon snapped. “Have you lost your mind? You’re really going to scream at your own brother over some outsider? We’re family, Charlotte! Didn’t Mom and Dad teach you anything?”
“Family?” Charlotte let out a laugh-bitter, hollow. “The day you forced me into a marriage I didn’t want for the sake of the family, I stopped being one of you. And when Grandpa, Mom and Dad used money and influence to cover up your mistakes, you lost any right to talk about family!”
“You-you’re being ridiculous!”
“Listen to me, Brandon.” Her voice trembled, but each word hit like steel. “That boy’s mother-her name is Linda Parker. She wormed her way into my home, stole a lock of my daughter’s hair, cursed her with the
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vilest rituals, and nearly killed her. All of it-every single bit is because of you. Because of your selfishness. Because of the cold-blooded rot in the Harrington family.”
On the other end of the line, Brandon went silent.
Charlotte’s chest rose and fell violently, tears streaming unchecked down her face. They weren’t just for now–they were for the life she had lost in her past, for the child who had died because of a crime that
wasn’t hers.
“Brandon,” she whispered, her voice ragged but unwavering, “I won’t let this go. I’m going to hire the best
lawyer I can find. I’ll dig out the truth, piece by piece. Linda will pay for what she’s done. And you-” she
drew a shuddering breath, “—you will pay for your sins too.”
She hung up the phone without waiting for an answer.
The room fell into stunned silence.
Michael and Margaret just stared at her, as though seeing her for the first time. They had never imagined that the quiet, yielding woman they knew could erupt with such power.
Charlotte, however, looked spent. She swayed, and Michael lunged to steady her.
But she didn’t collapse. Slowly, she turned and walked to my crib. She bent down and looked at me for a long, long time.
“Baby,” she whispered hoarsely, “your mom… was a coward. But not anymore.”
Her hand trembled as she reached out, carefully brushing my cheek as though I were the most precious
treasure on earth.
“From now on, I’ll protect you. No one-no one—will ever hurt you again.”
