Chapter 4 - THE HOUSE OF LIESMy blood ran colder than ice.
I slowly raised my head and looked at Robert. He was standing near the top of the stairs, holding the hunting rifle, his face shadowed by the dim hallway light.
"Robert..." I breathed, my voice barely audible above the ringing in my ears. "What is this?"
Robert didn't answer right away. He lowered the shotgun slightly. His eyes, usually so warm and full of gentleness, were completely hollow.
"Mom, what are you listening to?" Caleb groaned, wincing in pain as Katherine tried to keep him conscious.
I stood up slowly, holding the small tape recorder out in front of me like a weapon. "Robert... you told Caleb to attack Katherine? You blackmailed your own son?"
Katherine looked up in shock, her eyes darting between me and my husband. "What?"
Robert let out a long, heavy sigh. He didn't deny it. He didn't look ashamed. He just walked slowly toward us, his heavy boots thudding against the blood-stained carpet.
"You don't understand, Mary," Robert said softly to me. "I had to protect this family. I had to protect our life."
"Protect us?!" I screamed, tears finally spilling over my eyes. "You pushed our son into a violent frenzy! You let him abuse his wife! You let him turn his wedding night into a slaughterhouse! Why?!"
"Because Arthur Pendelton had me by the throat!" Robert shouted back, his composure finally snapping. "Six years ago, our business was going under! We were millions of dollars in debt! Arthur offered me a way out. He paid off our mortgages, bought Caleb’s college tuition, and funded his career! In exchange... he asked me to do one thing."
"What thing?" Frank asked, stepping between Robert and the rest of us.
Robert looked down at Caleb. "The night Beatrice 'died'... she came to our house. She was hysterical. She had uncovered her father's embezzling schemes, and she wanted Caleb to run away with her. But Caleb was out of town. I was the only one home."
Caleb’s eyes widened in horror. "Dad... no... you told me she never came by..."
"Arthur called me five minutes after she arrived," Robert continued, his voice trembling. "He told me that if I let Beatrice go to the police, he would ruin us. He would put me in prison, take our house, and make sure Caleb never worked a day in his life. He told me to keep her here until his men arrived."
"You locked her up?" Katherine whispered in disgust.
"I held her in the basement for two hours until Arthur’s private security came and took her away!" Robert cried, tears falling down his aged face. "I thought they were just taking her to a facility! I didn't know they were going to pretend she committed suicide! But once the funeral happened, I was trapped. Arthur owned me."
"And Katherine?" I asked, my heart breaking into a million pieces. "Why frame Katherine?"
"Because Katherine started poking around Arthur’s financial records last year!" Robert said. "Arthur realized Katherine was getting too close to the truth. He threatened to release video footage of ME helping his men drag Beatrice out of our basement six years ago. He told me if I didn't feed Caleb the fake IP address evidence and convince Caleb that Katherine was Beatrice’s killer... he would send me to prison for kidnapping!"
Caleb let out a gut-wrenching scream of rage and despair. He tried to stand up, despite the bullet hole in his shoulder. "YOU FREAK! YOU MADE ME HATE THE WOMAN I LOVED! YOU MADE ME BEAT MY OWN WIFE!"
"I did it to save you, Caleb!" Robert yelled back.
"You didn't save anyone!" I screamed, stepping forward and slapping Robert across the face with all the strength I had left. The slap echoed through the hallway. "You sold your soul, Robert! And you destroyed our son's!"
Suddenly, the house’s power went completely dark.
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The lights extinguished, plunging us into pitch-black shadow. Downstairs, the heavy sound of multiple tactical boots echoed through the foyer once again. Arthur Pendelton’s full strike team had arrived.
And this time, they didn't bring silencers.
