My attorney added that any attempt to challenge it would almost certainly fail, given the documented money trail, the written deception, and the recordings.

I had no wish to make a spectacle of the night, so I gave them three days to gather their clothes and personal things.

I also told them, plainly, that they were legally barred from approaching or contacting Della — and the officers formally served them with temporary protective orders.

My mother stared at me with pure hatred as I turned to leave. “The whole town will hear you threw out the woman who gave you life!”

“And they’ll hear exactly why,” I said.

Chapter 6 — The Town Hears

Over the next three days, my mother called uncles, cousins, neighbors, even our pastor, insisting Della had bewitched me and torn the family apart.