Chapter 13 - The Mansion I Once Hated Became a Home for Families Who Had Nowhere Else to GoI changed the mansion.
The garden remained.
The oak trees remained.
But the house became different.
Half of it became a rehabilitation residence.
Families could stay while their children received treatment.
Rebecca moved into the guesthouse.
Emily finally felt safe.
Sammy returned whenever he could.
The place that had once felt like a prison became a home.
One evening, Emily found me in the garden.
She sat beside me.
"Do you ever regret it?"
"Regret what?"
"All the money."
I smiled.
"Not anymore."
"You once offered a six-year-old everything you owned."
"I was desperate."
"You still are."
I laughed.
"For what?"
She touched my hand.
"For more time."
She was right.
Money had never bought me happiness.
But it had allowed me to build something meaningful after I stopped worshiping it.
That was enough.
Then Sammy came running across the lawn.
"Dad!"
I turned.
He was holding an envelope.
"I found something."
"What?"
He handed it to me.
The handwriting was unfamiliar.
Inside was one sentence.
You think Richard was the end. He wasn't.
I looked at Emily.
Her face changed.
The past wasn't finished.
Not entirely.
May you like
But this time, we weren't afraid.
We had each other.
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