Chapter 14 - The Last BetrayalI stared at the screen.
My name.
Emma Carter.
Under it:
PRIMARY SUSPECT.
“No.”
Daniel shook his head.
“It's a setup.”
Michael stepped closer.
“Obviously.”
But Jonathan said nothing.
I looked at him.
“You knew?”
He avoided my eyes.
“Jonathan?”
He finally answered.
“Your father believed someone would eventually frame you.”
“Why me?”
“Because you were the only person Margaret couldn't control.”
That wasn't enough.
I demanded the truth.
Jonathan confessed.
Years ago, before Lily was born, my father had secretly transferred part of the family fortune into my name.
Not Margaret's.
Mine.
The trust had been structured so that Lily's inheritance would pass through me.
If I were convicted of my father's murder, the trust would activate under emergency provisions.
But the secret shareholders could then challenge it.
They had prepared evidence showing that I poisoned my father.
My fingerprints.
My signature.
My bank account.
Everything.
Except one thing.
The cup.
The cup my father had used the night he died had never been recovered.
Daniel stared at the evidence room file.
“It was destroyed.”
“By whom?”
The detective looked at us.
“Hospital records say Margaret ordered disposal.”
Then everyone fell silent.
Because Margaret had lied about everything else.
But the final clue was still missing.
The cup.
Where was it?
We found it in an evidence warehouse two days later.
Hidden beneath a mislabeled box.
The forensic report proved the poison hadn't come from me.
It came from a drug prescribed to Margaret.
Then came the impossible part.
Her prescription had been filled under another person's identity.
My husband's.
Michael.
I turned toward him.
He went pale.
“I didn't do it.”
“Then why was the prescription in your name?”
“I don't know.”
Daniel grabbed the file.
“There is more.”
The pharmacy signature wasn't Michael's.
It was a forgery.
But the fingerprint on the prescription was real.
It belonged to Margaret.
She had used Michael's identity.
We finally had enough evidence.
The police issued a warrant.
The secret shareholders began disappearing.
Accounts were frozen.
Companies collapsed.
News channels reported the scandal.
And Margaret vanished.
Three days later, on Lily's eighth birthday, she called me.
“Mommy.”
Her voice was calm.
“Come to the old estate.”
“Why?”
“Because I found something.”
My stomach dropped.
“Who is with you?”
Silence.
Then Margaret spoke.
“Happy birthday, sweetheart.”
I froze.
“How did you get my daughter?”
“She came willingly.”
“No.”
“She wants answers.”
Lily's voice returned.
“Mommy, she says Grandma wants to show me something.”
I grabbed my coat.
Daniel tried to stop me.
I shook my head.
“This ends tonight.”
At the estate, every light was on.
The ballroom was decorated exactly as it had been one year earlier.
Crystal chandeliers.
Champagne.
White flowers.
And at the center of the room stood Margaret.
She wore the same pearl necklace.
Lily stood beside her.
Margaret smiled.
“You came.”
I stared at her.
“You said you wanted to show Lily something.”
“I did.”
She opened a box.
Inside was an old photograph.
It showed my mother.
Jonathan.
My father.
And one other person.
A baby.
My breath stopped.
Margaret smiled.
May you like
“You were never your father's biological daughter.”
Everything inside me shattered.
