A text from her.
“We’re not done here. You’ll regret this. We’ll be contacting the lawyer about your inheritance. You’ll pay for this.”
I could almost hear her shrill, venomous voice in my head as I read the message.
It wasn’t a threat.
It was a promise.
And I knew it.
But the difference now is that it didn’t scare me anymore.
It didn’t hold the weight it once did.
I glanced at Lily, who was sitting next to me, her parents giving us some space to just process the night.
I showed her the message, and she let out a soft laugh.
“Is she serious?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Dead serious,” I muttered.
But there was no trace of fear in my voice.
If anything, I was amused.
I hit the reply button, my fingers typing with confidence, almost like the words were coming from a part of me I didn’t even know existed.
“You’re right. You won’t be done here. But I’ll tell you this: keep your money. You can keep your inheritance. And when you decide you want to talk to me like an adult without the threats and the manipulation, you know where to find me. But don’t bother trying anything else. It won’t work. And if you think I’m scared, you’ve got another thing coming.”
I had sinned, and the weight that had been on my shoulders for so long felt even like Li.
It felt like I had closed a chapter of my life that had dragged on for way too long.
Just as I put my phone down, it buzzed again.
This time it was my dad.
He didn’t even bother with a message.
Just a string of angry voice notes.
I clicked on the first one, listening to him Rand about how I was ruining my life, how I was going to regret this, how I was throwing everything away.
I let the message finish, then clicked the next one.
Another TI raade.
The same insults.
The same empty threats.
And then another.
And another.
They were getting more frantic, the desperation in his voice growing, but none of it hit home.
I didn’t even bother replying.
I didn’t need to.
There was nothing left for me to say.
Lily’s dad caught my eye from across the room, raising his eyebrows with a knowing look.
“Everything okay?”
I nodded, my lips curling into a small but satisfied smile.
“Yeah. They’re just not used to me standing up for myself, but they’ll get over it.”