Chapter 21 - It is not Blood that makes you Family. It is Love.

"Sometimes the person you would take bullet for
ends up being the one behind the gun"

15 Years Ago…

This home was different. She had her own room, it was in her favourite purple color. All the shelves were lined up with different toys that she never got to play with before. Her bed was occupied with stuffed bears in various colour and sizes along with brand new Barbies. It was everything from her Christmas list and it seems Santa finally found her address. Mommy was right, Santa did deliver everything from her wish list to this address that's the reason she didn't had many toys to play with in her old home.

She sprang towards her bed and was delighted to find her bed sheet having Mermaid Ariel upon it, another favourite of hers. She loved it here. She got all the chocolates or chips her heart desired and even a new colouring book.

She got down in search of her crayons but heard someone shouting. Fights scared her. Her Mommy used to fight with her Daddy and they were very loud. It was not nice there. Daddy loved her but Daddy never used to be home and when he did he used to drink juice and fight.

Being here was different. There were no fights here. She saw Mommy with Mr. Zack and they were happy. Everyone was nice to her here. Though Mr. Zack's Daddy was grumpy but everyone else was nice.

She heard someone shout and it was clear this time. "You cannot have trash associated with my name, Zack. You drop of this garbage wherever you picked it from and then you can live in our house."

"Don't you dare Dad! She's my wife; her daughter is our daughter! They're Salvatore even if not blood. I won't allow you to disrespect my wife or my child."

"These scums are no Salvatore. I'll throw you out of my house if you don't get rid off this wench and that dirty child of hers. No one shall taint Salvatore name."

"How dare you call my wife such! I would have killed you if you were not my Father."

"Get Out! This is not my son anymore. He no more inherits Salvatore surname or any property that is mine. I have only one son and that's Giuseppe and only Damon and Stefan will inherit anything of mine"

She heard rushing footsteps and saw Mr. Zack instruct his mommy to pack everything up. She didn't wanted to leave, she liked here. She wanted to stay and the fear that she'll go back to that bad place with her Daddy made her cry.

Seeing her cry, her Mommy picked her up and gave her a beautiful smile. "We're going to a beautiful home, Sweetie. Where we three can live happily."

[ ~ ]

Present…

It was early hours of dawn and a week since she last had a word with Shane. He said he'll be back immediately and it has been a week and now he barely answers her call. She cannot call him frequently knowing well that this will not please him and his temper wasn't something she liked messing around with.

She sat on the ground against her couch, picked up a wrinkled paper that had food stains over it. This piece of paper mentioned that there has been forgery of signature on the document and the property she mortgaged still belongs to Damon Salvatore. She crumpled it again and threw far away from her sight.

She has dues worth 50 million under her name Sunny Nelson and it will not be long before they trace her present identity Sarah Salvatore. How ironic it was that the surname she despises the most is the only reason she's safe and no one's dared to touch her. She was a Nelson and proud to be so but giving the current situation she was just like her Father in debt and useless.

It would be any day that she gets caught either for Forgery, Identity theft, Defamation, Embezzlement and God knows what else. Atticus made it sound so easy, he made her feel that Damon will be punished along with all the Salvatore's. Even she was a Salvatore, did that mean she will face the same consequences?

There was a sudden knock on the door and she heard someone speak, "Sarah, you there?"

Stefan's voice jolted her upright. She had switched her bell off so that they thought she wasn't home. What was he doing here since he never came unannounced. She stepped closer to the door and could hear hushed murmurs. He wasn't alone. She stepped back from the door and rushed to her bedroom to call Shane. Meanwhile the knocking at the door increased with Stefan calling for her more repeatedly. This increased her anxiety.

Shane wasn't answering her calls anymore, she ran for her cupboard to fetch anything for her defence. She was sweating and her hands were getting clammy due to her nervousness and fear. In this moment she was alone and she had failed to do what Shane expected of her. She opened the drawer to get out the gun that Shane kept for their safety. Does it work? Is it even loaded?

The sudden ringing of her phone startled her and she dropped her gun with a thump on the floor. In the silence of her home she could hear everything so clearly; realized that no one was banging the door anymore. Deciding to wait for a moment and when she could hear no more noise, she believed they were gone.

She sagged against the wall in relief but it was short lived. The sound of her main door breaking rang in her ear like an alarm and she scrambled for her gun again.

[ ~ ]

"I don't think she's in there" remarked Stefan after knocking the door and having it unanswered.

Damon's patience was running thin. The whole ride he was occupied in his own thoughts of surely there being some misunderstanding when Wes told him that in all legal documents Sarah had her previous name Sunny Nelson. He knew her better, her cousin wasn't capable of such act. She has always been fragile and naive, quick to fall, easy to impress, she cannot do this. Shane might have forced her into his trap.

Elena placed her hand upon Damon's arms. "We need to call the Cops. We should have the moment we left the Cabin. Please Damon"

Damon looked into her brown doe eyes and nodded at her. "I'm not leaving. I'm so close to this and I want the answers. Elena, I don't want you in any unnecessary trouble."

"No Damon-" He cut her off and continued with a soft expression upon his face, "I don't want to take any risk when it comes to you. I want you to go home and rest. I'll be there before you wake up, I promise." He turned to Stefan, "Brother go home. We'll deal with this later and yes we need to record the statements, most importantly inform our family about it." His next sentence was more of a demand than request. "Drop Elena home safely."

No one was inside the house and Stefan had to return to check on his daughter while Elena had to go home as her family was worried sick that she was out so late. Feeling there was nothing more to do they both begrudgingly left from there.

Once they were out of sight, Wes bent towards the door for a while and asked Damon to be quiet. In a hushed whisper he added, "I can hear someone". They both nodded in unison understanding full well what was to be done.

Wes picked the lock and a good kick made the door fell apart from the flimsy panel blocking it. The condition of the house was really poor. The room reeked of liquor and was scattered with papers and decomposed leftovers. They heard someone scrambling around and were even more alerted. The sound was clear within the house. The next moment they came face to face with his cousin who looked disheveled holding a gun in her shivering hands.

Wes and Damon both stopped in their tracks. Sarah stared eerily at Damon. Her hair entangled in a bunch of mess with an oversized shirt hanging from her frail body. There were noticeable tear streaks running down her cheeks. She wasn't looking anything like her usual self; laughing and happy Sarah. He would have approached her if she wasn't pointing the gun at him.

Her hands were shivering as she commanded, "Get out or else I'll shoot you, Damon"

"Sarah, I can help-" Damon started but was interrupted by Sarah, "Oh! You can't Mr. Perfect nor I want mercy of Salvatore's. I'm a Nelson and I don't need you."

"Shane will be punished. All you've to do is prove you're with us." Damon suggested looking pleadingly into his little cousin's face. He moved further to approach her but she fired a shot which missed Damon and pierced the wall.

Sarah moved ahead carrying her gun more confidently now that she almost shot Damon. Her madness fueling her courage. "I want you ruined Damon. You and your whole family. Your grandfather left nothing for us, Zack and my Mom used to work to make ends meet until that old bastard died and left everything for your father and his two sons."

"You work in Salvatore Inc. It's yours too!" Damon pleaded in his futile attempt to make her understand. He won't be able to face Gail and Zack if he didn't try hard enough. He cannot fail at this.

Sarah gave a sardonic laugh. "I worked only to forge and steal your documents. To sell data to our competitors but it wasn't enough. I had debt of millions and stealing only gave few hundred dollars. I did it because I wanted to destroy and defame you. Make you beg for every single penny. But that bitch Elena came in between and my plans started to fail. Nothing worked to keep her away from you."

He could hardly believe what he was hearing. He was standing there in front of her not even attempting to save himself. How did he let this happen? His cousin needed him and he was busy where-working? All this time she faced him was with intention to one day ruin him? He was hardly able to comprehend the situation when he heard Elena.

"Damon, Oh my god!" Elena came rushing towards him followed by Stefan.

Sudden appearance of Elena and Stefan distracted Sarah momentarily and being well observant Wes jumped on Sarah to snatch the gun away. Even when struggling Sarah aimed to fire towards Damon or Elena hoping to take at least one of them down. Elena pulled Damon away from the chaos and the gun was fired exactly at their position. In moments haste Stefan picked up the vase and hit it over Sarah's head as she fell unconscious.

They could hear distant Police sirens, surely called by one of the neighbors upon hearing gunshots.

Before they could process anything, there was a sudden gasp made by Elena which diverted their attention towards the body lying on the ground. The body lying in the pool of crimson. Body of the person they know.

[ ~ ]

The news of what transpired in Sarah's apartment quickly made the headlines. Paparazzi and journalists were scramming Salvatore Mansion for days until Stefan made a press release along with Klaus who is Damon's lawyer. They contacted the not so obvious and unrated Mason for this job, as he was the first to hint Elena towards the truth.

"Come on Mason, air time..1..2..3..GO!"

Mason who was standing in crisp shirt and black trousers was overdressed for the event but was proud as he was the only one who had the right to cover the news as per Salvatore's lawyer. He got the mic set placed on him and quickly started reciting the events with a bright smile.

"Hey Guys, it's Mason from TrueStories your one true platform for all that happens in Business world. Let me start with the notorious Salvatore case"

It was revealed in investigation that Shane was involved with few rivals of Salvatore Inc. and used Dunham Lake as passage to supply and store drugs for over a decade. The locals residing around Dunham Lake never had any objections with the progress Salvatore's redevelopment plan would bring but they were threatened by Shane and his associates to revolt against it.

Shane's father who is well known industrialist revealed during the enquiry that he was left jobless after Giuseppe Salvatore fired him upon misplacement of company property and since then he and his son wanted to seek revenge and Sarah was just their means to end as she had similar motive of her own.

Sarah aka Sunny Nelson confessed about their attempted attack on Damon and Elena which had left Damon seriously wounded and her other acts of selling disclosed and private information to others for monetary gain. During the whole investigation she didn't deny her failed attempt to kill Damon Salvatore and her plans to ruin Salvatore name.

Atticus Shane was heavily injured with the gunshot misfire that was aimed for Damon Salvatore. He was declared dead on the way to hospital due to heavy blood loss.

Sarah was arrested and imprisoned for unintended murder of Atticus Shane, attempted murder of Damon Salvatore, defamation against Elena Gilbert and embezzlement charges among others.

Sarah has been unstable since she heard the news of her husband's death due to her lethal gunshot. She was shifted to hospital again this morning due to trauma and recurring seizures. She suffered a stroke which was caused due to kidney failure and was later on declared dead.

Zach and Gail Salvatore were heartbroken to realize the harsh truth of Sarah's act and how Shane fueled her insecurities and brainwashed their daughter to develop hate towards her own cousins and family that accepted and loved her. As per the evidence provided by neighbor of Sarah, she was often abused at the hands of her husband.

Sarah's mother Gail blames Atticus and his father for conditioning with her daughter's mind and pushing her towards ruining her family. Both the parents are in deep loss of their daughter and were not available for any further comments.

This seems like the age old story of greed and jealousy which ruined deep ties of Salvatore's and how a wealthy and renowned couple lost everything including their sanity because of their diabolical and selfish means.

While neither Damon Salvatore nor Elena Gilbert were available for any comments. It's said that Elena Gilbert has quit Salvatore Inc. after the whole fiasco and is reportedly working in other company. An insider mentioned about how love was blooming between these two love birds but I guess it's gone away after the ordeal poor Elena Gilbert had to face due to her relationship with eldest Salvatore son.

Rumor has it no one has seen Damon Salvatore in his office and all the CEO duties are currently fulfilled by youngest Salvatore. Has Damon quit or is he resigning?

We'll get to that in the next update. Stay tuned for all the deeds of the infamous Salvatore case.

[ ~ ]

I am not sure how many of you're still reading but I would like to complete this story as it was my first. I always thought I'd write more and had many stories planned but life happens.

There is an Epilogue that I've already written and will update shortly, I hope you all have read the previous chapter which I uploaded yesterday. Do let me know if you like it :)

Thank you everyone for loving this story and motivating me.