chapter 5
807 Words
Audrey's POV
“Dad, please.” I stood in the middle of his study, my hands trembling. “Just tell me the truth.”
He said nothing.
“If you know who killed Sterling, tell me,” I begged. “Why are you protecting them?”
“I’m not protecting anyone.”
“Then who did it?”
His eyes dropped to the floor. “Some truths destroy more lives than they save.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means let the past stay buried.”
Tears burned my eyes. “My marriage is over. Our company is collapsing. And I finally have proof you didn’t do it.”
I held up the flash drive.
Pain flickered across his face.
“Stop investigating.”
I stared at him. “You’d rather everyone believe you’re a murderer? You’d rather Reid hate you forever?”
He looked away.
That was enough.
“Fine. If you won’t clear your name, I will.”
I walked out.
An hour later, I called Reid.
“I have proof.”
“Proof of what?”
“My father didn’t kill yours.”
Silence.
“Where are you?”
We met at Reid’s penthouse office.
Blair was already there.
She sat on the sofa, one hand resting on her stomach, wearing a smile that made my stomach turn.
“Let’s get this over with,” Reid said.
I placed the flash drive on his desk.
“This contains surveillance footage from the day your father died. It proves my father wasn’t responsible.”
Reid studied me. “You found this after all these years?”
“Yes.”
“That seems convenient,” Blair murmured.
I ignored her.
Reid plugged in the drive.
The folder opened.
Empty.
My stomach dropped.
“No.”
He clicked through everything.
Nothing.
“The video was there,” I whispered.
“There isn’t one.”
“I saw it. The investigator showed it to me.”
Blair gave a small, cruel laugh. “Oh, Audrey.”
“Don’t.”
“This is embarrassing.”
I turned to Reid. “You have to believe me.”
“Then where is it?”
“I don’t know.”
His expression hardened. “You fabricated evidence to protect your father.”
“I didn’t.”
“Enough.”
I flinched.
He stepped closer. “I gave you a chance.”
“I’m telling the truth.”
“Your family’s company is collapsing. You’re desperate.”
“That’s not what this is.”
“It is exactly what this is.”
“No!”
His laugh held no humor.
“You’re too late.”
My chest tightened. “What does that mean?”
“My final act of revenge is about to begin.”
He walked out.
Blair followed, pausing at the door.
“Maybe next time bring actual evidence,” she said sweetly. “Though I doubt there’ll be a next time.”
The door shut.
I stood there, fighting tears.
Then I called Cam.
“Cam?”
“Audrey?”
“He didn’t believe me.”
I told him everything.
“That’s impossible,” he said.
“The footage was real.”
“Then someone tampered with the drive.”
“I don’t know what to do.”
“You keep fighting.”
“For what?” I laughed bitterly.
“The truth.”
“I’m tired.”
“I know.” His voice softened. “I’ll talk to Reid.”
“There’s no point.”
“Let me try.”
I closed my eyes. “Thank you.”
Three hours later, the news broke.
Whitmore Holdings had officially collapsed.
Acquired by Calloway Enterprises.
Reid’s company.
I stared at the screen as my parents’ photograph appeared beneath the headline. They were smiling beside the company’s first office, young and proud.
My throat closed.
It wasn’t the business I was grieving.
It was everything behind it.
My childhood. My parents’ sacrifices. Their legacy.
Now it belonged to the man who had destroyed us.
The next morning, I called a lawyer.
By afternoon, my divorce papers arrived.
I signed them without hesitation.
There were no tears. No anger.
Just emptiness.
I sent the papers away with a handwritten note.
A final goodbye.
Two days later, I boarded a plane.
I told no one where I was going.
As the plane climbed, the city shrank beneath me until the clouds swallowed it.
For the first time in weeks, I felt calm.
Maybe this was what letting go felt like.
I had finally left everything behind, or so I believed.
My phone vibrated.
A delayed message from Cam.
I opened it.
(Reid knows the truth now.)
My heart stopped.
Another message appeared.
(He knows your father didn’t kill his father...)
Then the final one arrived.
(...and he’s desperately looking for you.)
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