The True Heiress's Revenge: Exposing My Toxic Family on Live TV novel · Chapter 20 of 24

Chapter 20: The Church Steps

The church sat at the end of a gravel road, small and white, with a lawn that sloped down to a creek.

Demi had not seen it since she was five.

She stood at the edge of the grass for a long time.

Bruce waited on the steps with a shoebox in his hands.

He had driven out alone, in a rented truck, with no camera crew.

"You came," he said.

"I came for the picture."

"I know."

She crossed the lawn.

Under the big oak at the corner, the grass was worn smooth.

"That's where they parked," Bruce said. "The van, the blue one. I was by the swing. You were at the tables with the lemonade."

"I remember the lemonade."

"I remember her saying your name."

Demi turned.

Bruce had gone gray in the face.

"The old woman," he said. "She walked up and said, 'Demi, honey, your mother wants you at the car.' You went. You didn't even look back at me."

"I was five."

"I was eight, and I knew something was wrong. I could feel it. And then the man came out of the van, and you saw him before I did."

She did not answer.

Bruce set the shoebox on the step.

"You said, 'Bruce, run to the church and get Daddy.' You said it so loud. They both looked at you."

"I remember."

"You took them by the hands and led them down toward the creek. Away from me." His voice dropped. "I ran. I got my father. I told him you were being taken."

"That's what you did."

"That's what I did first."

She waited.

"Then the police came," Bruce said. "Two officers, in the church hall. They asked me what I saw. And I was eight, and I was scared, and Dad was standing right there, shouting. So I told them you wandered off."

The wind moved in the oak.

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