Four Ballots. Four Names. My Family Chose To Trade Me Away Chapter 10

Four Ballots. Four Names. My Family Chose To Trade Me Away Chapter 10

The truth broke them completely.

They sold their last belongings for bus fare and came back to Dust Hollow.

The town had transformed. A sign read “Whisper Ridge Colonial Excavation Site.” Tourists and scholars

wandered the area.

I stood in a field jacket, discussing trench layouts with Professor Vance.

“Wren!”

Harrison’s broken cry cut through the air.

He dropped to his knees in the mud-white-haired, spine curved like a question mark, nothing left of the

tycoon.

Celeste wrapped her ravaged face in a dirty scarf, weeping beside him.

“Wren, baby-Mom was wrong! So wrong!”

“Piper was a con artist! She stole everything and ran!”

Dorian and Seraphina fell to their knees too, pleading with their faces pressed toward the ground.

“Wren, please. Give us back the fortune.”

“Just come home. We’ll do anything. We’re begging you!”

Their wails drew a crowd of villagers and tourists.

I stood with my hands in my pockets, staring coldly.

“Give it back?”

“I traded ten years of my life for those blessings. Do you think you deserve them?”

Dorian crawled forward to grab my pants.

“That energy belongs to the Blake family! You had no right to take it!”

I stepped back and shoved him away with my boot.

“The Blake family’s fortune was gone three years ago. I kept you afloat with my life.”

“And how did you repay me?”

“Too gloomy. Too old-looking. Too useless.”

I gestured to the land behind me.

“Now I’m here. Healthy. Doing work that matters.”

“As for you-enjoy the lives you were always meant to have.”

I turned and walked through the gate of the excavation site.

Security moved in and held them back.

I didn’t look back at their screams.

Later, I heard bits and pieces.

Harrison was beaten by collectors and ended up panhandling under a highway overpass.

Celeste lost her mind completely. She tore off her scarf, ran through the streets eating trash, babbling about

being an ageless goddess.

Dorian got a construction job but was slow and clumsy; a steel beam crushed his leg, leaving him permanently disabled.

Seraphina sang for change in subway corridors, but her ruined voice only attracted jeers and curses.

And Piper? She tried to sell the stolen jewelry and was tracked by a trafficking ring. She was never heard

from again.

Justice found all of them.

Some time later, the Whisper Ridge project became a major breakthrough. I was offered a research position

and a place on a national committee. The town got its paved roads. New homes. Smiling faces.

One evening, I stood on the hill and watched the sunset wash over the golden land.

The wind carried away the last of the old shadows.

I breathed deep, smiled, and walked toward the bright future waiting ahead.