Chapter 6 - The True Mastermind
Daniel dragged in a ragged, burning gasp of air as Marissa loosened the wire just enough to keep him conscious, dragging him by his collar across the polished floor toward the grand study.
“You... you were arrested,” Daniel rasped, blood pooling in his mouth, his strength completely sapped. “The police... Detective Vance...”
“Detective Vance has been on my payroll since my first husband died of a ‘tragic boating accident’ five years ago,” Evelyn said smoothly, walking ahead of them and flicking on a single desk lamp in the study. She settled gracefully into Daniel’s leather executive chair, crossing her legs.
Marissa tossed Daniel unceremoniously onto the Persian rug like a sack of garbage, dusting off her hands with a disgusted smirk.
“You really thought a twenty-eight-year-old pediatric nurse just happened to apply for a job at your house two weeks ago because she loved children?” Marissa sneered, leaning down to pat Daniel’s bleeding cheek mockingly. “Evelyn found me, Daniel. She orchestrated every single detail of this entire arrangement. She told me to put the bugs in the cast. She told me how to frame the timeline. She even planted the fake digitalis trail pointing back to me so that when the authorities closed in, I would be the designated sacrifice.”
Daniel stared up at Evelyn in absolute horror. The quiet, observant babysitter was gone; in her place sat a cold, calculating mastermind who had manipulated every single person in this house like pawns on a chessboard.
“Why?” Daniel whispered, tears of betrayal mixing with the dust on his face. “Clara... did you kill Clara too?”
Evelyn leaned forward, resting her chin on her interlocked fingers.
“Clara was my older sister, Daniel,” Evelyn said softly, her voice dropping into a tone of chilling detachment. “She stole my inheritance. She married you, took the family name, and left me with nothing. So I built a family of my own—starting with a foolish, desperate woman named Marissa who would do anything for a diamond ring, and ending with a wealthy, grief-stricken real estate mogul who was too blind to see the monster sitting right across the dinner table.”
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She pulled a thick stack of legal transfer documents from her briefcase and slid them across the mahogany desk, along with a heavy gold fountain pen.
“Sign the total asset forfeiture over to my holding corporation, Daniel. Then take a deep breath, swallow the rest of this digitalis-laced wine glass on the desk, and join your dear first wife in the history books.”
