Chapter 2
Tobias led me to a small abandoned warehouse near the docks where he had established a secret hideout months ago. That was where he finally laid out the entire truth for me to see.
After our parents died, Tobias had suffered severe injuries, but during a private rehabilitation program in Ohio, he had fully regained his ability to walk. He was only nineteen years old at the time.
“If I had walked back into town asking questions, I would have been killed next,” Tobias said plainly. “So I let everyone believe I was permanently disabled for fifteen full years while I quietly observed.”
He explained how Garrett’s father had built a massive logistics empire using stolen contracts from our family after our grandfather refused to allow their illegal smuggling operations. Soon after came mysterious debts, industrial sabotage, and the deliberate murder of our parents.
Years later, Garrett appeared, acting polite, attentive, and endlessly patient until he won my trust and married me. Since I owned twenty-five percent of the shipyard and held the decisive vote on key port properties, I was his ultimate target.
“He needed your death to look like a tragic accident,” Tobias said, turning on a small television monitor.
On the screen, a news broadcast showed Garrett standing by the riverbank, dripping wet and weeping dramatically in front of rolling cameras.
“I tried so hard to save them,” Garrett sobbed to the reporters. “I watched the car sink into the river, and I wish I had died alongside my wife.”
Penelope stood right behind him, softly rubbing her pregnant belly while pretending to be completely heart-broken.
Tobias then pulled up an audio file sent by an old family housekeeper who had been secretly gathering intelligence for him. The recording picked up a conversation inside our home that very evening.
“Are you absolutely sure Rosalind couldn’t get out of that car?” Penelope’s voice asked on the tape.
Garrett let out a dark laugh. “I wired her seatbelt to the frame myself. Not even a weightlifter could have unbuckled it, and her useless brother couldn’t even stand up to help her.”
My brother tightly clenched his fists as the audio continued playing.
“Besides, she wouldn’t have lasted much longer anyway,” Garrett added casually. “I’ve been slip-feeding small doses of toxic medication into her warm milk for three years, alongside poison mixed into her daily cosmetics. In a few months, her heart would have failed, and no doctor would have suspected a thing.”
My hands flew to my chest as I recalled my constant dizziness, chronic fatigue, and unexplained hair loss over the last few years. Every time I felt sick, Garrett had held my hand and whispered sweet lies, telling me to drink my milk so I could rest.
“What about the company meeting tomorrow?” Penelope asked on the recording.
“I am calling an emergency board meeting,” Garrett replied confidently. “Using the power of attorney documents Rosalind signed, I will take control of her shares, sell off the port land, and pay off my father’s debts.”
“And what about our child?” Penelope asked softly.
“Our son will inherit everything he deserves,” Garrett declared.
My own half-sister had not only helped plot my murder, but she was also carrying my husband’s child.
“Tomorrow morning, he thinks he is inheriting my entire life,” I said, wiping my face clean of tears.
May you like
“We can take this audio straight to the state prosecutor,” Tobias suggested.
“We will,” I agreed firmly. “But first, I am going to make sure he never signs a single document using my name ever again.”
