The Price of Their Fortune Chapter 09
Delia then approached my parents and Travis in secret.
She carefully exploited their greed and their desire to control me.
A meaningless internet rumor, repackaged and delivered to the right people, turned everyone closest to me into willing accomplices who pushed me toward an imaginary altar.
Only after handcuffs closed around their wrists did they understand that their promised path to wealth led directly into criminal court.
The fortune they imagined brought them prosecution, disgrace, and the destruction of every relationship they had.
Once the truth emerged, their miraculous blessing became a public joke.
Their united alliance collapsed, and they began blaming one another.
“Detective, I was deceived. Delia lied to me. She said Nathan would bring divine punishment on everyone if he rejected his own sons!
“I panicked. I was terrified that the curse about dying violently would happen to me!
“I train in Muay Thai, so I hit harder than most people, but never meant to kill him. Could Nathan give the prosecutor a statement asking for leniency? I’ll pay anything.”
Travis seemed to have forgotten how deliberately he’d kicked me while I lay defenseless.
My parents returned to my hospital room carrying a fruit basket.
In a matter of days, they appeared to have aged a decade.
My mother began crying the moment she entered. “Nathan my sweet boy, we lost our minds. Your father kept saying it was safer to believe. He said that if the legend was real, our whole family would become rich.
“And if it was false, you’d only suffer a little. We never imagined it would become a crime.”
My father rubbed his hands together. “Son, I’m sorry. When I saw the boys, the only thought in my head was that you had to accept them or our family would be ruined.
“Now I understand how stupid it was. Can you forgive us? We’re still family.”
I looked at them and felt nothing but cold emptiness.
“Family? When Travis beat me, you watched. When I asked for DNA testing, you tried to stop me. When you struck me with a vase and a mop, did either of you remember that we were family?
“You keep saying you acted for the family. You acted because you wanted wealth and because you were furious that I wouldn’t obey.
“You weren’t merely foolish. You were cruel and selfish.”
My words cut through their excuses
My mother collapsed and sobbed. My father opened his mouth, found nothing to say, and lowered his head.
