Chapter 1: The Perfect Lie
1226 Words
Kayda’s POV
My mother’s lifeless body lay in a pool of blood.
The knife was still in her body.
My hands trembled as I stared at her.
My father knelt beside her, in tears as he desperately tried to stop the bleeding.
*One week earlier
It was a normal day in the Hart’s Mansion.
Mom stood in the kitchen,stirring a pot of soup while humming to herself.
She glanced at the clock.
7:30pm.
Dad should have been home an hour ago.
“He must have gotten caught up in another meeting”, she said, trying so hard to convince herself.
The front door opened.
“Dad’s home” I shouted, running towards him.
Dad opens his arms as I run towards him.
“My princess, how was your day?”he hugged me tightly.
“I’m fine dad.”
“Sorry I’m late”
Mom walked over and adjusted his tie.
“You’ve been saying that almost every night this month”
Dad chuckled awkwardly.
“You know how the company is.”
She smiled back, but something about his answer felt off.
They all gathered around the dining table.
The Harts had once promised never to let business steal family dinners no matter what. It has been their family tradition since the company was founded nearly twenty five years earlier.
Back then, they had nothing except each other.
Now they owned one of the country’s biggest companies.
Yet somehow, everything felt different.
“So,” Mom asked cheerfully, “how was today’s board meeting?”
Dad didn’t even look up from his food.
“Long.”
“What was discussed?”
“The usual.”
I frowned.
“Dad, you're not even listening.”
“I am”
“You don’t even know what mom asked”
Dad looked at mom.
“What was the question again?”
Mom smirked.
“It’s fine.”
But it wasn’t.
The dinner ended much earlier than usual.
Dad checked his phone five times before standing.
“I have another meeting.”
Mom looked at him in surprise..
“At 8:30?”
“It’s with the foreign investors”
She sighed.
“I’ll wait up.”
“No need. I might be late”
He leaned over and kissed her forehead before grabbing his car keys.
“I love you”
“I love you too”
The front door closed.
Silence.
I rolled my eyes.
“Dad works too much.”
Mom forced a smile.
“He does it for us.”
“Does he? He was never like this mom”
I ran upstairs, fighting back tears.
10:45.
Mom sat alone in the living room with a book she hadn’t turned a single page of.
Her phone remained untouched.
No calls.
No messages.
Finally…
The front door opened.
Dad walked in quietly, trying to not make a sound.
“You waited?”
“I told you I would”
“I’m sorry my love.”
“You’ve apologized a lot lately”
He froze.
“Business has been demanding”
She walked towards him.
The familiar scent of his cologne reached her.
Only this time,it was another perfume.
A sweet floral fragrance.
Definitely not hers.
Mom’s smile faded.
“What’s wrong?” Dad asked.
“Nothing.”
She reached for his jacket.
“I’ll hang this up.
“I can do it.”
“It’s alright.”
Dad hesitated before handing it over.
She watched him disappear upstairs, sweating profusely.
She sniffed his jacket.
There it was again.
A woman’s perfume.
Her heart skipped.
No.
Dad wasn’t that kind of man.
He couldn’t be.
They had built everything together. She trusted him with her life.
There had to be another explanation.
There had to be.
The next morning, Mom woke up before sunrise.
Dad was already dressed.
“So early?”
“I have a breakfast meeting”
“Okay wait for five minutes let me make you coffee"
“No no I’m good” he said as he walked out of the door.
Mom stood at the doorway, watching his car drive off.
She suddenly remembered he had forgotten his laptop.
“He’s been so forgetful these days”,she murmured.
Without thinking, she grabbed the laptop bag and hurried outside.
By the time she reached the gate, his car was already gone.
She smiled helplessly.
“I’ll have someone deliver it”
As she turned back towards the house, the security guard approached.
“Ma’am?”
“Yes?”
“A courier dropped this off for Mr. Hart earlier.”
He handed her a small envelope.
“I wanted to give it to him before he left but he was on a call”
Mom accepted it.
“There wasn’t a sender?”
The guard shook his head.
“No ma’am”
She looked at the envelope.
Only two words were written on the envelope.
For Richard.
She stared at it for several seconds.
It was strange.
Something wasn’t right.
Her fingers slowly reached to the sealed part of the envelope.
Then she stopped.
“No”, she whispered.
“I shouldn’t.”
But as she turned the envelope over, a small photograph slipped out and landed on the floor.
Mom bent down to pick up the photograph, but before her fingers could touch it, her phone rang loudly.
The sudden sound startled her.
She glanced at the screen.
Richard calling…
For a moment, she felt relief. Perhaps he had remembered the envelope. Perhaps this strange feeling was nothing more than her imagination.
“Richard?”
“I forgot my laptop”, he said hurriedly. “Have you seen it?”
“Yes. You left it on the study desk”
“I need it for my meeting. I’ll have my assistant come pick it up”
“I can bring it to you instead.”
Silence.
“No.”
The firmness in his voice caught her off guard.
“I mean, there’s no need. I wouldn’t want to bother you. My assistant will handle it”
“Alright”
“And Isabella?”
“Yeah?”
“If anyone delivers anything for me, don’t open it”
She held the envelope tightly.
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“Good”
The call ended.
Mom stared at her phone.
It was such a simple request.
Yet somehow, it felt like a warning.
She looked down at the photograph lying facedown on the floor.
The corner had folded slightly, revealing only the edge of a boy’s outfit”
“A boy?”
Her brows drew together.
She slowly reached out for the picture again.
Just then, footsteps came from behind.
“Mrs. Hart”
It was Daniel, Dad’s assistant.
He was breathing heavily as he had rushed all the way from the office.
“Mr. Hart asked me to collect his laptop,” he said politely, but his eyes were fixed on the envelope in her hand.
Mom noticed something unusual.
He looked nervous.
Almost frightened.
He looked at the photograph on the floor before quickly looking away.
“Mrs. Hart”, he said, swallowing hard.
“You…you shouldn’t look at that”
Mom slowly lifted her eyes to meet his.
“Why not?”
He opened his mouth to answer, then his phone rang.
The Caller ID flashed across the
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