“I finally understand. Grace was too good for this world, and we let someone like him breathe the same air.
She kept her dignity until the very end. And we, the people who should have protected her, were too busy gossiping about her grave to see the monster standing right in front of us.”
The town council didn’t go for a theatrical punishment. They followed the law. Grant was charged with breaking and entering and harassment leading to a death. But the town added their own sentence: he was shunned. His father stripped him of his inheritance and made him work as a laborer on the very roads his company built, with every cent of his wages going to Mrs. Higgins and a scholarship fund in Grace’s name.
Grant, once the arrogant heir, had to face the people he had looked down upon every single day.
He had to tell his story to the judge, to the papers, and to his neighbors. He had to own his cowardice.
It was a long, slow road to any kind of redemption. He spent a year in manual labor, serving the poorest members of the community, finally learning what it meant to actually earn a living and respect others.
He eventually stopped fighting it. He realized that no amount of money could bring back the life he had snuffed out. He accepted his fate, hoping that one day, he might find a way to live with himself.
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