Catherine stepped slowly onto the perfectly manicured lawn, as though she were taking the stage. Every movement was precise, coldly measured. She knew this was no simple return. This was her revenge.
Uncle Edwards gaze burned into her. His fingers whitened around the cane he clutched with such force. His eyes held everythingrage, contempt, and that old, predatory gleam with which he had crushed anyone who stood in his way for decades.
“Buy it?” he sneered. “Girl, these houses belong to my family. My bloodline. They stay here as long as I live.”
Catherine took a step closer.
“Precisely,” she said softly. “Because you wont live much longer.”
The old mans lips trembled. He tried to laugh, but a cough wracked him instead. The years, the drink, the weight of power had taken their toll.
Behind the neighbouring fences, faces appeared. Everyone saw the scene, yet no one dared intervenethough curiosity outweighed fear.
“Youve gone mad, Cathy,” the old man growled. “No ones selling you a thing.”
Catherine drew a folder from her bag.
“These are contracts. Ive already bought half the street. Aunt Victoria was drowning in debt, her son buried under loans. Uncle Alberts business went under. They all came to me.”
Edwards eyes flashed.
“Lies!”
She opened the folder, revealing the copies inside.
“This is just the beginning. But you, Uncle Edward, have secrets worth far more than these walls.”
The old man swayed.
“What secrets?”
Catherines smile was icy.
“You think I know nothing. But I know how you ‘became a widower’ so conveniently. I know my mother vanished one morning, and you claimed a heart attack took her. No autopsy. No questions. You paid off the doctors, the constables.”
A murmur rippled through the street. Behind windows, frightened eyes flickered.
“Lies!” Edward roared. “Everyone knew she was ill”
“Ill?” Catherine cut in sharply. “Or merely in your way, with her fortune?”
The man staggered but quickly found his voice again.
“Youve no proof.”
Catherine raised her hand.
“Then whats this?”
She held up a thin, battered notebook. The old mans face turned ashen.
“That”
“Yes. My mothers diary. I found it in an old relatives chest. Everythings in hereher fears, her grievances. She wrote how you slipped medicine into her tea to make her seem frail. How you forged her will.”
Edwards eyes widened. His cane slipped, nearly clattering to the ground.
“Lies all lies”
Catherine shrugged.
“Perhaps. But you know what the press loves? Stories like these. Especially ones backed by evidence.”
Silence draped the street. Only the wind rustled the trees.
Edward raised a hand as if to strike, but it trembled. His cane dropped, and he collapsed onto the porch bench. His face twisted, dignity giving way to helplessness. The clans patriarch now looked frail for the first time.
“This is my street” he gasped, fighting for breath.
“Not anymore,” Catherine replied softly.
She turned on her heel and walked to her car.
Then, the unexpected happened. Neighbours emerged from their homes. Aunt Victoria, pale and dishevelled, clutching a paper.
“Shes right!” she cried. “I sold everything to her we couldnt pay the debts”
Then Uncle Albert stepped forward, eyes downcast.
“My business failed,” he muttered. “I signed, too.”
The crowds murmurs grew. Some wept, others cursed. The street, once so pristine, now crumbled under the weight of its lies.
Catherine started the engine. In the rearview mirror, she glimpsed Edwardmotionless, like a shattered idol, his family scrambling around him, trying to salvage the ruins.
The ache in her chest, years of pain, tightenedbut for the first time, it didnt torment her. The pain no longer ruled her.
Her hands steadied the wheel. She knew she hadnt returned for nothing.
Thirty-two years ago, they had cast her out like rubbish.
Today, she became the new mistress of this street.
The street, once ruled by Edwards clan, now belonged to Catherine. Her revenge was not a shout, not violencebut papers, cold logic, and time, which had finally set everything right.
