Chapter 418
418
“What is it?” Timothy asked.
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“I want to reclaim the Yuncey Family estate. And I don’t just mean in name–I want the legal ownership of this house transferred to me.”
“You want to take this house? You might as well take my life. Are you really going to be that ruthless?”
“It’s not about ruthlessness. It’s what should’ve been done long ago,” Caitlin replied firmly, pulling out a set of documents. “These are copies of the evidence I got from Attorney Yordan–proof that Miles illegally transferred Yuncey Family property. You should take a good look.”
Timothy fell into silence as he skimmed the papers. The weight of his past choices settled over him like a burial shroud.
“I’ll be taking back the deed to the old estate, no matter how you feel about it,” Caitlin continued. “But I know you’ve lived here for a long time. I’ll allow you to stay until the end of your days. That’s my final act of mercy.”
It wasn’t a cold–blooded decision–Caitlin still had a heart. She wasn’t here to kick a dying man to the curb.
Her restraint struck Timothy more deeply than any anger could. Shame stirred within him for the first time in years.
He was about to speak when Caitlin’s phone suddenly rang.
She glanced at the screen–it was Cynthia.
Her voice came through flat and distant. “Caitlin, I need to ask a favor. If I die, can you take care of my body? Bury me with my husband and son?”
Caitlin’s face drained of color.
“Cynthia, where are you? Don’t do anything stupid–I’m coming to you right now!”
But the line went dead before she could get an answer.
“Cynthia? Hello? Cynthia!”
Only the dial tone remained.
Timothy furrowed his brow. “What happened? What’s wrong with Jia Hui?”
“I think she’s going to take her life. I need to find her–now!”
Caitlin rushed out the door and called James on the move. He answered quickly and brought the car around. As she climbed in, her voice was tight with urgency.
“We need to find Cynthia. She might be attempting suicide!”
Her fingers were clenched around her phone as she fired off a message to Sebastian, informing him of the situation.
After Cynthia had bitten off Quill’s ear at the shareholder meeting, her brothers had taken her away. Now, no one seemed to know where she’d gone.
Caitlin and James raced to the estate where Cynthia had been staying. Fabian and Edgar were both there, but they hadn’t seen her. No one had.
“Split up! She could be anywhere!”
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Everyone scattered in a panic.
Cynthia had shut off her phone. No one could reach her.
Then Caitlin suddenly remembered something.
“James, head to the old Ingram estate! Now!”
James didn’t hesitate–he turned the wheel hard and sped off.
Caitlin recalled a conversation where Cynthia mentioned the restoration of the Ingram family house–the place where her husband, son, and extended family had died. It was the only place she might return to.
They arrived at the estate and burst through the front gate.
James was the first inside. A moment later, his voice echoed from within.
“Caitlin, get in here—now!”
She followed the sound and found herself in the eerily quiet main hall of the old mansion..
There, hanging from a wooden beam, was Cynthia.
She had hanged herself.
James rushed to cut her down, but when Caitlin checked, it was already too late.
“We were too late. She’s gone.”
Caitlin stared at the lifeless body on the floor. A heavy grief settled over her.
Some Yuncey Family members had been monsters–but Cynthia hadn’t been one of them. She had loved deeply, and she had fought fiercely.
Caitlin had hoped Cynthia could start a new life. But, like Taylor, she chose to end hers.
Sebastian arrived soon after. He stared at the body in silence.
“For her,” he murmured, “death was a reunion.”
“Let’s hope she found peace, and her family, on the other side.”
As the group mourned, Edgar and the others finally arrived. They broke down at the sight of their sister’s body. Even Randall looked shaken.
Edgar discovered a letter on Cynthia’s body. In it, she requested no funeral–just that her ashes be cremated and buried with her husband
and son.
Her family honored her wishes. On the day of cremation, even Timothy came to send her off.
As the hearse pulled away, he sighed and said, “Let her go. She suffered enough in this life. Maybe she can finally rest.”
Following Cynthia’s death, the courts announced Quill’s sentence.
He was found guilty of arson and murder–and sentenced to death.
And just like that, the Yuncey Family unraveled.
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A once–prosperous household, broken in mere months, Dead. Imprisoned. Scattered.
Was this karma?
After the funeral, Caitlin returned to speak with Timothy. The man looked thinner, frailer–worn down by grief and consequence.
“Her ashes have been laid to rest,” she said.
He gave a small nod.
“Is there anything else you haven’t told me?” Caitlin asked. “Any other secrets I should know?”
There were still things he hadn’t said. But fear held him back.
After a long silence, he finally muttered, “You already know most of it. Probably more than I do.”
“There’s one thing I know for sure,” Caitlin said quietly. “Do you know what happened to your father?“,
Timothy looked up, startled. “You found out?”
Caitlin nodded. “He never left the Yuncey Family. He’s buried right here. Under the old courtyard.”
“What…?”
“The night before my grandmother’s forced marriage, he tried to rape her. She killed him in self–defense. His body was buried beneath the courtyard.”
Timothy’s cloudy eyes widened in horror. His hands began to tremble.
“He’s dead. My grandmother killed him. But considering what he did–murdering her father and grandfather–it was justice. Eye for an eye.”
She stood slowly. “It’s all over now. The past is buried. I’m leaving for home tomorrow.”
Without waiting for a reply, she turned and walked away.
That night, Timothy sat alone in the ancestral home. He stared at the faded family portrait–the once–full house now empty, his children gone, his grandchildren scattered or disgraced.
The candle on the altar sputtered, its flame barely hanging on.
He, too, felt that way. Close to the end. And terrified of death–of what awaited him after.
And finally, in that lonely hour, Timothy broke.
He wept.
And
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