Chapter 6 - THE TRUTH SHE HID
I hesitated. Vanessa’s finger rested on the trigger. Her expression told me she meant every word. She would kill Lily without blinking.
Slowly, I slid the envelope across the wet wood. Vanessa snatched it instantly, tore it open, and compared the handwriting to the letter she already held. She let out a long breath.
“Good.” She stuffed both letters into her pocket. “Now the world has no proof. No one will ever believe your word against mine.”
“You killed my father.” I kept my voice steady. “Arthur told me everything. You poisoned him. You threatened Lily. You married me to steal her inheritance.”
Vanessa laughed—a sharp, bitter sound. “Arthur talks too much. And he’s a coward. But it doesn’t matter what he says. It’s his word against mine. And I have resources. Friends in high places. Money. Power. What do you have? A dead man’s journal and a frightened old man.”
“I have the lawyer.” I took a step forward. “Dad sent copies of everything to his lawyer. The proof of your father’s theft. The evidence of your threats. The autopsy report he commissioned himself. Even if you burn every letter, the truth already exists.”
Vanessa’s smile faltered. “That’s a lie.”
“It’s the truth. He suspected you’d do exactly this. He protected Lily long before he died.” I took another step. “You’ve risked everything for nothing. You’ll never get the money. You’ll never hurt Lily. And you’ll spend the rest of your life in prison.”
Vanessa’s face twisted. She raised the gun toward me. “Then I’ll take what I can get.”
“Shoot me,” I said. “And you’ll never get away. The police are on their way. Emma called them ten minutes ago. They’re surrounding this building right now.”
It was a bluff. But Vanessa didn’t know that. She glanced toward the door, hesitation flickering in her eyes. In that split second, Lily kicked the crate beside her. It tipped. Vanessa stumbled.
I lunged.
We hit the floor hard. The gun went off. The bullet buried itself in the wood beside Lily’s head. We struggled, rolling across splintered planks, Vanessa screaming and fighting with terrifying strength. I locked both hands around her wrist and forced the gun upward.
“Let go!” she shrieked.
“Not until you’re in chains.”
She drove her knee into my ribs. Pain exploded through me, but I held on. With a final wrench, I twisted the gun from her grasp and sent it skittering across the floor. Vanessa scrambled backward, chest heaving, staring at me with pure hatred.
“You think you’ve won?” She spat blood onto the floor. “There’s more than one way to destroy a family. Even in prison, I have people. They’ll find Lily. They’ll finish what I started.”
“Not if you’re isolated,” I said, standing and keeping the gun trained on her. “Not if every name you ever contacted is exposed. Dad knew who helped you. He wrote it all down.”
Vanessa went still. “He… wrote that too?”
“Everything. Names. Dates. Payments. The people you bribed. The ones who helped you fake your identity.” I nodded slowly. “You’re not just a murderer. You’re part of something much larger. And when it all comes out… the people you’ve been working with will turn on you first.”
Vanessa’s face crumpled. The hatred melted into raw, terrified panic. “They’ll kill me. They’ll kill me before I reach trial.”
“Then tell me everything,” I said. “Name names. Dates. What they paid you. Who else helped kill my father. Testify. And maybe we can protect you.”
She stared at me, weighing her options. Outside, sirens began to wail—real sirens, approaching fast. Vanessa closed her eyes.
“I didn’t want to kill him,” she whispered. “I only wanted the letter. He grabbed my arm. I pushed him. He fell. Hit his head. It was an accident.”
“And the syringe?”
Vanessa flinched. “To make it look like a heart attack. Someone told me how. Someone who works at the hospital. They said it would be untraceable.”
“Who?”
She opened her mouth to speak—then froze. Her eyes widened. She reached toward her chest, gasping, and collapsed forward onto the floor.
I dropped beside her. “Vanessa!”
She gripped my sleeve. Her voice was barely audible. “They… knew I might talk. Poison… slow-acting. In my drink before I came here. They wanted… silence.”
“Who?” I urged. “Tell me the name.”
May you like
She whispered one word—a name I knew well—then her hand fell away. Her eyes stared blankly at the ceiling.
Sirens screamed outside. Doors burst open. Flashlights cut through the rain. But Vanessa was dead. And the man she’d named… was someone I’d trusted my entire life.
