Chapter 17: A Pyrrhic Victory

👉 Previous Decision: You chose Option B – Challenge the municipal reversion in civil court to claim full personal ownership of the ruined property.

The thought of letting go of the house, of the land that had been in my family for generations, gnawed at me. I couldn’t just walk away.

“I’ll contest it,” I told Evelyn, my voice firm. “I want full personal ownership. It’s my family’s land.”

Evelyn’s expression tightened. “That will be a difficult and costly fight, Maeve. The municipal trust has the 1888 covenant. It’s ironclad.”

I spent my remaining savings, a meager $12,000, filing emergency motions to contest the municipal reversion. The legal battles were relentless, a grueling war of attrition against county attorneys.

Though I successfully blocked the town from taking the land, the mounting legal fees and civil debt crippled me. Within six months, I was forced into personal bankruptcy once again.

Julian, meanwhile, fled the county. He evaporated into the vast network of commercial lenders he had defrauded, leaving me alone in a condemned, fire-damaged house.

The property still carried unpayable tax burdens, now solely my responsibility. My career, though not officially ended, was stained by the ongoing legal battles.

Every graveyard shift, as I sat at the dispatch console, a faint, rhythmic clicking would echo in my headset. Trunk-88, still ringing silently, a constant reminder of the voices buried beneath the foundation of Hollister House.

The house was mine, but it was a husk, a monument to a battle won at too great a cost.