Chapter 79
“Have your lawyer never told you about the wonders of DNA technology? Even without my parents, a test with my Aunt Violet could prove who I am.”
Carl was clueless about such matters. He turned and glared at Violet. “She wouldn’t dare!” “You don’t need to threaten her. Even if she refused to do the test, my parents are victims of an unsolved crime. Their DNA is still on file with the police.”
As these words sank in, Leanne watched Carl’s dark face. He could lie and manipulate Violet, but the police database was beyond his reach.
“My dad was Joseph Castillo, my mom was Rose Castillo, and I’m Leanne Castillo. This house belongs to us,” Leanne stated, each word deliberate and firm.
Carl, ever defiant, scoffed. “Who are you trying to scare? Am I afraid? I’ve lived here for twenty years. You expect me to just pack up and leave because you say so? Prove it in court if you’re so sure!”
“I have no problem seeing you in court,” Leanne replied coolly. “It wasn’t just this house my parents left behind. Their bank accounts had a sizeable amount, at least several hundred thousand. Where is that money now?”
Feeling guilty, Carl averted his eyes for a moment.
Violet chimed in nervously, “Your uncle tried his hand at the stock market…”
Leanne knew what she meant. Carl had squandered her inheritance in a misguided attempt to play the stock market.
ot Violet a look that told her to keep quiet. “You say I owe you? Ridiculous! I could
owe me five million!”
arents had three cars, some stocks and investments, plus those savings. All told, it worth at least a million. With inflation and investment growth over the years, that’s what you’ll owe me,” Leanne said firmly.
“Oh, don’t forget the small matter of you abandoning a child. The judge might be interested in that detail.”
Violet, perhaps out of panic or a sliver of conscience, quickly said, “We’ll move!”
Carl wasn’t having it. “You move! I’m staying put!”
Violet snapped back, “Do you want to go to jail?”
Carl shut up, his face stormy.
“Leanne,” Violet pleaded, “We’re family. It doesn’t have to come to this.”
Chapter 79
“I don’t have a family anymore,” Leanne said, giving them a week to leave. As she walked away, Leanne could hear Carl’s spiteful voice, “Leanne must have been kicked out of that fancy estate. Even I wouldn’t want her!”
Leanne’s grandparents had passed before she was born. Violet was all she had left after her parents died. Leanne remembered Violet holding her close, promising to take care of Leanne as her mother would have wanted.
For a while, Violet was good to Leanne, comforting her through the nightmares that haunted her sleep after her parents’ demise.
But with a newborn of her own and the financial strain of a single income, it wasn’t long before Carl started talking about sending Leanne away to an orphanage.
The arguments were loud enough for Leanne to hear through the walls. One day, while Violet was at a doctor’s appointment, Carl drove Leanne to a city she didn’t recognize and left her at an orphanage. As he sped off, he threatened Leanne, “I know you remember the way home. If you dare come back, I’ll make sure you regret it.”
Leanne was just shy of seven, a little girl who had witnessed her parents’ murder. His threats filled Leanne with dread.
Twenty years ago, it a child, and Leanne never knew if Violet tried to
was pack tod
replace Leanne. Leanne spent years in that orphanage until a journalist came by.
Only when she became an adult did she start to understand things that were beyond a child’s comprehension, such as the fact that the house was her inheritance, rightfully belonging to her.
Leanne had tried to reclaim it before, but Carl, long since jobless and living off Violet’s income, along with their boy who was in a critical phase of his schooling, made it
difficult. Carl called Violet complai
in that how
But Le
e ungrateful, and Violet begged Leanne on her knees, crying.
had nowhere to go and her child’s future depended on staying
eing the victim. It was time to take back what was Leanne’s.
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