Chapter 10 - NEW ROOTS
One year later.
I stood on the back porch, sipping coffee and watching the morning sun break over the fields. The charred remains of the workshop were long gone. In its place was a beautiful, expansive greenhouse.
I didn't sell the farm.
Inside the greenhouse, Elise was humming a country song, watering a fresh row of heirloom tomatoes. She had a knack for agriculture, far better than Thomas ever did. We turned the farm into a co-op, selling organic produce to high-end restaurants in the city.
The yellow school bus pulled up at the end of the driveway. Lily, now seven years old and missing her two front teeth, hopped off the steps and ran up the gravel path, her backpack bouncing.
"Aunt Clara!" she yelled, tackling my legs in a hug.
"Hey, kiddo," I smiled, ruffling her hair. "How was math?"
"Boring!" she declared, sprinting toward the greenhouse to find her mother.
I watched them together. Thomas had tried to break all three of us. He tried to keep me ignorant, Elise imprisoned, and his sister loyal through greed. Instead, his death became the key that unlocked our chains.
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We weren't the grieving widow and the secret mistress. We were a family he never intended to build, running the empire he left behind.
And as I walked out to the greenhouse to help Elise harvest the tomatoes, I knew one thing for certain: the only thing toxic on this farm had been buried a year ago.
