Chapter 99
Chapter Ninety-Nine
Private Message | EchoZone Internal Chat
To: DeadStrings
Subject: Can you lend me an ear?
I think I blew up the world and now I’m sitting in the aftermath wondering if I did the right thing—or just made everything worse.
It wasn’t impulsive. I did it knowing there’d be consequences. I exposed things. Truths. The kind that don’t just shake people, they break the foundation they’ve built their lives on. I did it because people were hurting. People my father hurt. People who deserved to be seen and believed.
But now I feel like I’ve become the villain in the DeVonaire legacy drama.
Like I’ve torched the family name—and myself with it.
There are whispers, headlines, people looking at me like I betrayed something sacred.
Maybe I did. Maybe silence would’ve been easier.
Cleaner. But it wouldn’t have been right.
And now . . . I feel alone. Allegra’s here, of course, but she’s taken to hiding under the piano again. I think even she’s picking up on the tension. Either that or she’s just mad I changed her food brand.
I guess what I’m asking is . . . was this stupid?
Telling the truth? Trying to right something I didn’t break but inherited?
It feels like I’ve lit a match in a room full of gas and now I’m standing here with scorched hands and no applause.
Not that I need the applause, I just don’t like that people hate me for being his daughter.
Anyway, if you’re around—say something. Even if it’s just a bad playlist.