Chapter 4 The Recording
1017 Words
The recording started with a burst of static.
Then her voice filled the room.
“…she has everything. The name. The money. The wedding everyone dreamed about.”
Arora stopped breathing.
Her own voice.
She knew it immediately.
“Why shouldn't I have it too? I deserve Lilian's life more than she does.”
The audio ended.
Nobody spoke.
Arora stared at Edward's phone.
“That isn't…”
Her throat tightened.
“That isn't me.”
Edward didn't move.
“Are you saying you don't know your voice?”
“I know what my voice sounds like.”
His eyes remained fixed on her.
“I'd know it anywhere.”
“It sounds like me.” Arora took a step toward him. “But I never said those words. Edward, I swear to you, I've never said them.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I expect you to listen.”
“I am listening.”
“No, you're hearing it.”
Something shifted in his expression.
Arora forced herself to keep going.
“Think about it. Why would I record myself admitting to something I supposedly planned? Why would I leave evidence behind?”
“You've had an explanation for everything.”
“Because none of this makes sense!”
Her voice echoed through the room.
She looked around.
Her mother sat rigidly on the settee. Her father remained silent. Lilian had lowered her face, looking exactly like the devastated bride everyone wanted to comfort.
Arora turned back to Edward.
“The locked room. The maid. Now this recording.”
Her hands curled into fists.
“Someone keeps handing you exactly what you need to blame me.”
Victoria made an offended sound.
“Arora, enough.”
Arora ignored her.
“Someone planned this.”
Edward's jaw tightened.
“You keep saying that.”
“Because it's true.”
“Then who?”
“I don't know.”
“Of course you don't.”
The words landed harder than she expected.
Arora stared at him.
For a moment, she wanted to keep fighting.
She wanted to grab his phone and make him listen again. She wanted to demand the original file, ask who sent it, when it was recorded, where it came from.
But she could see his face.
He wasn't listening anymore.
He had heard the recording and made his choice.
Again.
So Arora stopped.
She lifted her chin and said nothing.
Edward seemed almost surprised by the silence.
His eyes remained on her for a moment before dropping to his phone.
He replayed the recording.
This time, he didn't look at Arora.
He listened.
The first sentence played again.
She has everything. The name. The money. The wedding everyone dreamed about.
Then the second.
Why shouldn't I have it too? I deserve Lilian's life more than she does.
Edward frowned.
Something was off.
He couldn't immediately say what.
He played it again.
The voice was unmistakably Arora's. The tone was low, almost breathless.
But the rhythm—
He listened more carefully.
There was no natural pause between certain phrases. The breaths didn't quite match the sentences. Each line seemed strangely neat, as though it had been recorded separately.
He glanced at the phone.
Then played it again.
“She has everything…”
Pause.
“I deserve Lilian's life more than she does.”
Too clean.
Too deliberate.
Real conversations were more tangled.
People breathed in the wrong places. They hesitated. They changed direction halfway through a sentence.
This sounded assembled.
Edward's thumb stopped above the screen.
Arora noticed.
She didn't say anything.
She had learned that arguing with him only made him dig in harder.
Let him think.
For the first time since morning, she saw uncertainty return to his face.
It lasted only a moment.
But it was there.
Edward looked at the phone again.
“Edward.”
Victoria's voice broke the silence.
He didn't answer.
She rose from the settee and crossed the room.
“You heard it yourself.”
“Yes.”
“It's her voice.”
“I know.”
Victoria placed a hand on his arm.
“She has always resented Lilian. You know that.”
Edward looked at her.
Something in his expression made Victoria pause.
“I raised her,” she continued. “I know what she's capable of.”
Arora's eyes narrowed.
“You raised me?”
Victoria ignored her.
“Edward, please. Don't let her manipulate you again.”
“I'm not being manipulated.”
“Then listen to the evidence.”
Edward's gaze shifted to the phone.
Victoria's fingers tightened around his arm.
“If you let her stay here, she'll find a way to turn this around. She always does.”
Arora stared at her mother.
There it was.
Not grief.
Not concern.
Fear.
For the first time, Victoria looked afraid.
Not of Arora.
But of Edward changing his mind.
Arora stored that away.
Edward was silent for several seconds.
Then he looked at Arora.
The doubt was still there.
She could see it.
Small, but unmistakable.
She held his gaze.
She didn't plead or explain.
Didn't give him another reason to dismiss her.
Edward's eyes hardened.
“Take her to the west wing.”
Arora's stomach dropped.
“I've heard enough for today.”
The maid moved uncertainly toward her.
Arora didn't resist.
She looked at Edward one last time.
He had already turned away.
The doubt she'd seen in his eyes was gone.
Or perhaps he had simply buried it.
Either way, the result was the same.
As Eve approached, Arora glanced at the phone in Edward's hand.
The recording had been sent to him at exactly the right moment.
After the maid.
After the accusations.
After he had spent the entire morning being told she was guilty.
Whoever made it hadn't needed Edward to believe every word.
They only needed him to be too exhausted to question the right ones.
And that was what frightened Arora most.
Someone wasn't improvising.
Someone had been preparing this long before she opened her eyes beside Edward.
And they weren't finished
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