Chapter 17 - The Poisoned CupJulian stumbled into the warm foyer, shivering and clutching a kitchen towel I tossed at him. He dropped onto the edge of the velvet sofa, staring blankly at the floor.
"What did Arthur hide from me?" I demanded, standing over him with my arms crossed.
"It wasn't just old age that made Dad slip faster in his final week," Julian whispered, his voice trembling with guilt. "Arthur... he found out about the will three weeks before Dad died. He knew he was getting cut out."
A cold, heavy dread settled in the pit of my stomach. "What are you saying, Julian?"
"Arthur visited him," Julian confessed, burying his face in his hands. "He brought a bottle of expensive vintage scotch. He tried to force Dad to sign an amendment transferring the estate over to us. When Dad refused and threw him out of the house, Arthur... he switched the old man's heart medication with a high-dosage blood thinner he bought online."
I gasped, my hand flying to my mouth. "He murdered his own father?"
"He didn't think it would kill him right away!" Julian sobbed defensively. "He thought it would just weaken him enough so we could force a signature in the hospital! But Dad was too strong... he figured it out. That's why he called Judge Vance and finalized the absolute lock on the will that very night."
My mind raced back to Ernest's final words: 'My heart stopped ticking properly three days ago, child...'
It wasn't just natural wear and tear. Arthur had poisoned him.
"Did you know?" I asked, my voice dropping to a dangerous, icy whisper, stepping right up to Julian. "Did you know he was killing your father?"
"I swear on my life I didn't know until the night before he fled!" Julian cried, looking up with absolute terror in his eyes. "I have the text messages, Laura! I have the pharmacy receipt Arthur accidentally left on our office printer! I'll give you everything! Just don't let the federal marshals throw me in prison!"
I looked down at the pathetic, trembling man who had tried to ruin my life just weeks ago. The wheel of karma had spun full circle.
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"You're going to hand those proofs over to the district attorney first thing in the morning, Julian," I said coldly. "And then, you're going to testify against your brother in federal court. That’s the only way you keep your freedom."
Hook for Facebook: The dark truth comes to light: her step-brother confesses that Arthur didn't just inherit nothing—he deliberately poisoned Ernest's medication to steal the estate.
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