The stepmother dragged Sophie by the hair toward the pool while she begged for her mother’s teddy bear.

I brought Julian back with me. He walked into Claire’s house slowly, touching the walls, looking at the photographs — seeing his own sister’s face everywhere. He stood before the portrait of Claire and Elena above the fireplace. He stared at Elena’s face for a long time.

“She threatened me,” Julian said. “She said I did not belong. That I was nothing. That I should be grateful they let me live.”

“You belong here,” I said firmly. “Claire proved that. She fought for you until her last breath.”

We went to the prison together. Elena sat across from us behind thick glass. She looked thinner. Grayer. Her eyes were hollowed out.

When she saw Julian, she froze. Her face went pale. She said nothing.

“Hello, Elena,” Julian said. His voice was quiet, but it carried across the room. “You told me I did not exist. You told me I was worthless. You threatened my family to keep me silent. But here I am.”

Elena stared at him as if seeing a ghost.

“He is not real,” she whispered, looking at me. “Claire made it up. She found him somewhere. Paid him.”

“He is your brother,” I said. “The one you erased. The one Claire found. The one you murdered her to silence.”

Elena shrank back.

“You know what this means,” I said. “Claire did not write you out of everything. Julian is the eldest. By law, he inherits. Every share. Every asset. Everything you killed for… belongs to him now. You lost. Even from the grave, Claire defeated you.”

Elena let out a low, broken sound. She buried her face in her hands. For a long time, she said nothing. When she looked up, all the fight was gone. Defeat settled heavy upon her.

“I wanted it all,” she whispered. “I wanted to matter. I wanted to be the one who was looked at. Who was loved. And Julian… Julian would have been given everything simply because he was born first. Simply because he was a boy. It was unfair.”

“So you erased him,” Julian said. “And then you erased her.”

Elena nodded slowly.

“I would have gotten away with it too,” she said. “If you had stayed lost. If that damned bear had never been opened. If Claire had not found you first.”

She looked at Julian — truly looked at him — with eyes empty of hatred at last. Only grief.

“I am sorry,” she said. “For everything. You should have known us. You should have grown up with a family. It was my fault. All of it.”

She stood up then. A guard took her arm. She turned away without looking back.

Julian and I walked out into the bright afternoon sunshine. He drew a long, trembling breath.

“She is truly gone from our lives,” he said.

“Yes,” I said. “She is.”