He Deceived Me So I Destroyed His Family’s Legacy Chapter 23
And every time she was even a little lucid, Julian would appear.
Those things had once been the chains used to hold her down.
Now, they would be laid out before a jury.
The day before the trial, we returned to Manhattan.
The old Hale house had stood empty for years.
When the seal on the door was broken, we were greeted by yellowed wallpaper and furniture coated in a thick layer of dust.
Lily stood in the entryway for a long time without moving.
I asked, “Do you want to go back to the hotel?”
She touched the old height marks carved into the doorframe from when we were children.
There were two pencil lines there.
The higher one was mine. The lower one was hers.
Suddenly, she smiled.
“No.”
“This is our home.”
We left the windows open all night.
Near dawn, Lily fell asleep beside me.
I covered her with a blanket, then sat alone on the front steps.
Across the street, a transport van was parked.
The windows were blacked out.
I didn’t know if Adrian was inside.
A little while later, the door opened.
He stepped out in handcuffs and saw me from across the street.
More than a year had passed. He was much thinner, and there was gray at his temples.
But when his eyes found me, his first instinct was the same as always—he checked to see if I was wearing a coat.
“Nora.”
He called my name past the officers.
I didn’t answer.
He took a step forward.
The handcuffs clinked.
“I need to talk to you.”
The officers blocked him.
I turned and shut the door to the old house.
Before it closed, I heard him say,
“You’ll regret putting Lily on that witness stand.”