99 Crimes, Countless Blessings — and None of Them Were Mine Chapter 04
The echo of the gavel had not faded when a violent force tore the Judge and me out of the memory.
When I opened my eyes again, my body lay in the center of the Sinclair Foundation’s private memorial chapel.
Cameras surrounded the room. Livestream comments raced across the screens.
[Karma finally caught up with her!]
[The Sinclairs are finally free of that monster.]
[Someone like her should never be allowed another life.]
Every new message struck my soul like a whip.
The Judge spun around.
“They’re using the living’s collective belief to crush your soul.”
At the front of the room, Mom wore white and cried until her eyes were swollen red.
“She hurt so many people, but she was still my daughter.”
Dad held her upright and bowed deeply to the cameras.
“The Sinclair family will never excuse wrongdoing.”
“We have decided to donate everything she left behind to her victims.”
Applause shook the chapel.
My mouth opened, and for a second I almost laughed.
Then the laugh reached my lips, and my chest ached so badly I couldn’t make a sound.
I had worked prison jobs for twelve years, wearing my fingers raw, to save thirty-seven hundred dollars.
That money was supposed to pay for a room, food, and one chance to start over when I got out.
But on the day of my release, the account was already empty.
Mom had withdrawn it on my behalf.
She said Ruby had suffered emotionally for years because of me, so the money would serve as compensation.
I had lost twelve years of my life.
In the end, even my chance to start over belonged to her.
Ruby walked onto the stage carrying white flowers.
“I’ll continue my sister’s good work.”
“I hope she becomes a better person in her next life.”
The applause grew louder.
Threads of golden light rose from the crowd and passed through my chest.
I doubled over, a scream tearing from my throat.
The Judge seized one of the strands. His palm burned black at once.
“They’re draining the good you carried into death!”
He followed the light into the back room.
Six blessing plaques stood on the altar—one each for my parents, my three brothers, and Ruby.
Beneath them lay a black wooden soul tablet.
My full birth name, birth date, and exact time of birth were carved into its face.
Two lines had been written on the back in blood.
[Let this daughter’s soul carry the sins of the Sinclair family.]
[Let this daughter’s good deeds feed the fortune of the Sinclair family.]
Black mist exploded around the Judge.
I stared at the marks cut into the edge of the tablet.
Ninety-nine.
One for each crime they had forced me to carry.
Adrian’s voice came from outside the door.
“Once the final seal is placed, she’ll never be reborn?”
The family occultist gave a quiet laugh.
“The more the world condemns her, the more blessings the Sinclair family collects.”
Mom released a long breath.
“Good.”
“If disaster comes for Ruby again, Nora will still be there to take it for her.”
Ruby stared at the glowing plaques.
“Nora saved so many people.”
“Will everything she earned really become mine?”
My soul felt as though invisible hands were tearing it apart.
So even death could hurt.
Every fragment of me was crushed and pulled apart. There was nowhere left to hide.
They had known.
They had always known I was never a monster.
The Judge roared and raised a hand to destroy the ritual circle.
But countless strands of golden light burst from the livestream and hardened into chains around his arms and legs.
Every time KARMA CAUGHT UP WITH HER flashed on-screen, the chains bit deeper into his flesh.
Blood soon ran from his wrists.
Something twisted in my chest. I threw myself at him, trying to wrap my arms around one of his.
My transparent body passed through him again and again.
“Leave me.”
My voice shook so badly the words barely formed.
“I can stay.”
“As long as I’m here, they won’t need another scapegoat.”
The Judge went rigid.
He looked down at me, the darkness in his eyes threatening to swallow the entire chapel.
Before I could pull away, the occultist grinned and slammed the final soul-binding seal against my forehead.
Cracks spread through my soul, inch by inch.
The Judge laughed.
With one violent pull, he shattered the chains.
Black mist erupted through the roof.
All six blessing plaques exploded at once.
Beneath their golden shells was dried human blood.
The Judge returned to his true form and closed one hand around the occultist’s throat.
“Stealing a soul’s good deeds. Altering the records of fate. Binding the dead.”
Then he looked slowly at the Sinclair family.
“What made you think the dead couldn’t testify?”
