𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝑶𝒇 𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆

Epilogue

The room is quiet, save for the occasional clink, sighs, tapping of the foot or the soft hum of the fireplace. It's almost peaceful, dangerously so. But that's how life has felt these days. Suspiciously calm, like the storm we had to survive.

I glance around the living room. Everyone is here- Papa, Mama, Aunt Elsa, Uncle Aiden, Eli's grandparents, my grandparents and Eli. Scattered across couches and rugs, half-eaten desserts on the table, and exhausted but somehow still intact. Eli's fingers brush mine from where he's seated beside me, anchoring me to the moment. His touch is steady, grounding. I lean into it without a word.

It's amazing how much he has kept his calm. He was the one who almost lost his freedom, future and everything yet here he's sitting like he is ready to claim his throne back.

We've had many family meetings over the past few months. Some ended with shouting matches. Some ended in silence. Most ended with more problems than we started with. But this one, this one feels different. This one feels final.

Ashton leans forward and reads the final legal report aloud, his voice even but weighty, like it's dragging the last remnants of Adam's legacy into the fire. "Adam's final act,  the footage, officially labeled as doctored. Family of the deceased charged with defamation, falsifying evidence, and harassment. Closed. Public coverage suppressed."

It sounds like a victory. On paper, it's clean. On our side of the table, it's complicated. Six months back, after Adam's death, Carter came to us with depressing news.

"I don't think Adam lost," Carter said.

Eli and I looked at him suspiciously.

"What do you mean?" I asked him.

"Before I pulled the trigger he said, 'I know I couldn't count on you. They will go down,'" Carter said and gave us a bitter look.

"What possibly could he have on us?" Eli questioned.

"I can only think of one thing — your footage..." he sighed when we didn't react and continued, "the footage of you killing the boy who tried to assault Ava on the highway. Adam somehow got his hands on it."

I almost lost my footing.

"No... it's impossible. We wiped it from everywhere," I told him.

"Unfortunately, Adam had a copy, and I think he gave it to someone to bring Eli down."

Whatever followed after that was an absolute nightmare for us. For Eli, especially. The video was leaked to the press and got viral all-over social media the next day.

The footage Adam had of Eli beating a man to death was real. Eli did it. We all knew it, even if none of us would ever say it in a courtroom. The man had tried to hurt me. He had his hands all over me when Eli found us. He was just in time. The CCTV footage should've been wiped that night, and we were sure it was. But Adam had a copy. A parting gift and a final twist of the knife.

It was delivered to the man's parents anonymously. 

And just like that, Eli became a target again. Not just in private, not in the quiet, blood-soaked way we deal with things but publicly. Legally. Headlines exploded. Social media spun into madness. Hashtags with Eli's name calling him killer, monster, rich boy with no consequences and what not. Talk shows dissecting our family like a scandalous novel.

In a way, Adam had achieved what he always dreamt of. He wanted to destroy our families and drag our name through the mud, and he did. Everything went down south. The video was clipped,  it only had the part where Eli punched the man to death while I stood beside him as audience.