Chapter 4 - The Man Behind the CurtainDetective Bennett took Tobias's phone from his hand.
Her expression changed the moment she saw the photograph.
Not shock.
Not confusion.
Recognition.
"Everyone move away from the tree line."
Her voice cut through the rain.
The officers immediately reached for their radios.
Garrett looked around.
For the first time since the crash, he looked genuinely afraid.
"Who else knows?"
Detective Bennett ignored him.
"Officers, secure the area."
One officer moved toward the trees while another guided Penelope and Garrett away from the riverbank.
I stood frozen.
The picture on Tobias's phone burned into my mind.
The angle.
The distance.
The fact that someone had been close enough to capture every second.
Someone had watched us escape.
Someone had watched Garrett fail.
And instead of running, they stayed.
"Rosalind."
Tobias's voice pulled me back.
I looked at him.
The rain ran down his face, mixing with tears I wasn't sure he wanted me to see.
"Are you okay?"
I almost laughed.
The question was absurd.
My husband had tried to murder me.
My half sister had helped him.
My brother had hidden the truth about his legs for fifteen years.
And someone who was connected to my family's darkest secret was standing somewhere in the woods.
"No," I whispered.
Tobias looked down.
"I know."
"No, you don't."
My voice shook.
"You don't know what it feels like to find out your whole life was built on lies."
His expression tightened.
"You think I don't?"
I stopped.
He looked toward the river.
"Rosalind, I woke up every morning for fifteen years pretending I couldn't walk."
The pain in his voice silenced me.
"I watched you give up your teenage years taking care of me. I watched you refuse vacations because you thought leaving me alone for two days would hurt me."
He swallowed.
"I wanted to tell you."
"Then why didn't you?"
His eyes met mine.
"Because the first person who tried to expose the truth ended up dead."
A chill moved through me.
"Who?"
"Our father's lawyer."
I stared.
Tobias continued.
"Three years after the accident, he found evidence that the crash was planned. He called me."
"What happened?"
"He never made it to our meeting."
The rain seemed colder.
"What do you mean?"
"He died in a car accident."
My stomach turned.
"Another accident."
Tobias nodded.
"That's when I realized someone wasn't hiding a crime."
He looked at me.
"They were protecting an empire."
Before I could answer, Detective Bennett returned.
"No one is in the woods."
Nobody relaxed.
That was somehow worse.
"How is that possible?" I asked.
She looked at the phone.
"The photo was sent three minutes ago. Whoever took it either left immediately or knows how to avoid being found."
Garrett suddenly spoke.
"Detective, I think we should all be honest about something."
Everyone looked at him.
He had changed again.
The frightened husband was gone.
The calm businessman had returned.
"Rosalind and Tobias have a complicated history."
I stared at him.
"What are you doing?"
He ignored me.
"My brother-in-law has spent fifteen years obsessing over my family."
Tobias stepped forward.
"Your family?"
Garrett smiled.
"You heard me."
Detective Bennett narrowed her eyes.
"Mr. Vale, choose your next words carefully."
"I am simply saying there are two sides to every story."
He looked at Tobias.
"Some people become trapped by the past."
Tobias laughed.
"You tried to kill my sister."
Garrett shook his head.
"No."
His eyes moved to me.
"You did."
The words hit like a slap.
"What?"
Garrett sighed.
"You always believed I loved you because you were Rosalind Montgomery."
I stared at him.
"Because of my money?"
"Because of your name."
His voice was quiet.
"And you never questioned why someone like me would want someone like you."
My chest tightened.
Three years.
Three years of believing I was loved.
"I did question it."
My voice was barely above a whisper.
"Every day."
Garrett looked surprised.
I continued.
"I wondered why someone so perfect chose someone as difficult as me."
The rain fell between us.
"I thought I was lucky."
A bitter smile touched my lips.
"I didn't realize I was just convenient."
For the first time, Garrett looked away.
A small victory.
But it didn't feel like one.
Detective Bennett stepped between us.
"Everyone is going to the station."
Garrett nodded.
"Of course."
Penelope looked at him.
"Garrett."
He didn't respond.
Her face changed.
A crack appeared in the perfect confidence she had carried all night.
"You said everything would work."
Garrett looked at her coldly.
"And it almost did."
The words made her freeze.
Almost.
Not we.
Not us.
Almost.
I watched her realize the same thing I had.
Garrett didn't love anyone.
Not me.
Not her.
Not even himself.
He only loved winning.
The police station smelled like coffee and old paper.
Hours passed before anyone finished giving statements.
I sat alone in an interview room, wrapped in a gray blanket.
The adrenaline had faded.
Now came the exhaustion.
A detective placed a cup of water in front of me.
"Mrs. Montgomery."
I looked up.
Detective Bennett sat across from me.
"You need to understand something."
"What?"
"This case is bigger than an attempted murder."
I almost smiled.
"That seems impossible."
She opened a folder.
Inside were copies of documents.
"These came from Tobias's flash drive."
I stared.
"Already?"
"We have analysts reviewing everything."
She pushed one page toward me.
My father's signature was at the bottom.
I recognized it instantly.
"What is this?"
"An internal company report."
I read the first few lines.
Then my hands went cold.
The report mentioned missing funds.
Illegal transfers.
And one name.
Alexander Montgomery.
My uncle.
"He was stealing from the company."
Detective Bennett nodded.
"According to these records."
I looked up.
"But my father discovered it."
"Yes."
"And that's why he died."
She didn't answer.
She didn't have to.
The silence was enough.
I looked at the document again.
There was something else.
A second signature.
Someone who approved the transactions.
Someone I recognized.
My breathing stopped.
"No."
Detective Bennett noticed my reaction.
"What?"
I pointed at the page.
"This signature."
She looked.
"Do you know whose it is?"
I couldn't speak.
Because I did.
I had seen that signature thousands of times.
On company contracts.
On investment documents.
On checks.
The person who signed beside my uncle wasn't a stranger.
It wasn't Garrett.
It wasn't Penelope's mother.
It was someone I trusted.
Someone who had comforted me after my parents died.
Someone who had helped me rebuild the company.
Someone who had always told me:
"Family protects family."
Detective Bennett looked at me.
"Rosalind?"
My fingers tightened around the paper.
"It's..."
My voice broke.
"It's my aunt."
The woman who raised me after my parents died.
The woman who held my hand at their funeral.
The woman who told me I would never be alone.
Aunt Victoria.
Detective Bennett wrote the name down.
"Victoria Montgomery."
I nodded slowly.
Then my phone buzzed.
I looked at the screen.
Unknown number.
My heart stopped.
Detective Bennett saw my face.
"Answer it."
I did.
At first, there was only silence.
Then a woman's voice.
An older woman's voice.
A voice I knew better than my own.
"Rosalind."
The blood drained from my body.
"Aunt Victoria?"
A soft sigh came through the phone.
"You're making this much harder than it needed to be."
I couldn't breathe.
"Where are you?"
Another pause.
Then:
"Somewhere your brother should have taken you fifteen years ago."
My hand shook.
"What does that mean?"
Her voice lowered.
"It means Tobias lied to you."
I looked through the glass window.
Tobias was sitting outside the room.
Watching me.
The woman continued.
"He didn't hide his ability to walk because he was protecting you."
The room felt smaller.
"He hid it because he was protecting himself."
I couldn't move.
Then Aunt Victoria whispered the words that destroyed the last piece of my trust.
"Rosalind..."
May you like
A pause.
"He was the one who caused your parents' accident."
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