Chapter 10 - The Last Delivery
The crisp mountain air felt incredibly refreshing as I took a deep breath of genuine freedom.
I had spent the last two years completely isolated from the toxic drama of the outside world.
Marcus visited me occasionally, ensuring my massive financial portfolio remained perfectly secure and steadily growing.
I had replaced my destroyed new car with a rugged, reliable truck that perfectly suited my new mountain lifestyle.
I no longer felt the agonizing need to set myself on fire just to keep other people warm.
I was finally happy, healthy, and completely unburdened by the crushing expectations of a parasitic family.
I finished my tea and walked back inside the warm cabin to prepare a quiet dinner for myself.
I heard the distinct sound of heavy tires crunching against the gravel driveway leading up to my property.
I looked out the kitchen window and saw a dark delivery van parked near my front gate.
A man wearing a standard courier uniform walked up to my porch and left a small package on the welcome mat.
He did not knock, and he quickly returned to his van before speeding away down the mountain road.
I opened the front door cautiously and picked up the heavy, unmarked black box.
I carried it into the kitchen, grabbed a sharp knife, and carefully sliced through the thick packing tape.
I expected it to be a legal document from Marcus or a random online purchase I had forgotten about.
Instead, I found a faded, decades-old photograph of myself as a newborn baby wrapped in a pink blanket.
The people holding me in the photograph were not the parents who had just been murdered by my siblings.
They were a completely different couple, smiling brightly with genuine, unconditional love in their eyes.
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Resting beneath the photograph was a handwritten note on thick, expensive stationary.
The message read, "They stole you from us thirty years ago, and now we have finally come to collect."
