Monsters-Menendez

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Echo of Freedom
The Menendez house was shrouded in silence, broken only by the rustling of the curtains swaying slightly.
The blood was still fresh, but for Lyle and Erik that chapter of their lives was already behind them.
The two brothers were sitting in the living room, their guns now abandoned on a glass table.
The tension that had preceded their gesture seemed to have vanished, but something new and even more disturbing was making its way into their minds: the future.

"We can't stop now," Lyle said, staring blankly at the ceiling. "We have to handle everything carefully, make it seem like we had nothing to do with it." Erik nodded, his face pale and his hands still shaking.
"We have to find someone... a scapegoat. Someone who can take the blame." Lyle thought for a moment, then stood up, walking over to the window. "I already have someone in mind. It will take some money, but we can do it. Nobody will suspect us. Not after the funeral and everything."
The next morning, the Menendezes appeared in public, dressed in black, with pained expressions carefully carved on their faces.

The limousine that took them to the funeral passed through the streets of Beverly Hills like a silent shadow, followed by a crowd of paparazzi taking photos at every step.
The camera lenses seemed to swallow their every gesture, their every breath.
At the cemetery, the ceremony took place in icy silence.
The words of those present mixed with the autumn breeze, but no one could perceive the true coldness behind those looks.

"They were loving parents," Lyle began, rising from the bench to give his speech. "They have taught us so much, and we can only be grateful for everything they have given us. This loss is unbearable, but we will try to honor them in every way we can."
His words were accompanied by soft sobs, but the eyes of those present were full of suspicion.
The brothers, however, knew how to manipulate the scene.

Erik, his voice broken by tears, approached his brother, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Their memory will live forever in our hearts," he concluded, motioning for those present to lower their heads for a moment of silence. As the funeral concluded, photographers continued to follow the brothers to the limousine.
Their return home was silent, but the atmosphere inside the car was thick with unspoken words.
They had survived the first great test. But the worst was yet to come. Once they got home, Lyle made a phone call.
The voice on the other end of the line was low, almost whispered.
"Everything is ready. Our man will take the blame. No one will suspect."
Erik and Lyle toasted to having freed themselves from sexual abuse but above all from all that nightmare they had experienced.

The following day, newspapers reported that the person responsible for the Menendez murder had been found.
A homeless man, with a long criminal record. The police declared the case closed, and the brothers breathed relief.
The Menendezes did an interview where they talked about this situation that had happened and why that man made that gesture.
The man said nothing and therefore the jury gave this man life imprisonment forever.
The new life of the Menendez brothers began.

The rooms of the Menendez mansion seemed larger and emptier without the parents' presence.
Lyle and Erik began managing the family's money and property as the new masters of their world.
In public, they were the devoted children who tried to keep the memory of their parents alive.
Privately, their empire was beginning to grow.
Their new life had just begun, a life of luxury, power and danger.
The criminal world was beginning to whisper their names, and the brothers were ready to use every opportunity to rise to the top.
The future belonged to them, but the shadows of the past had not yet completely dissipated.