Chapter 5 - The Lie My Brother CarriedThe phone slipped from my hand again.
This time, I didn't hear it hit the floor.
I only heard one sentence repeating inside my head.
He was the one who caused your parents' accident.
For fifteen years, I had protected Tobias.
For fifteen years, I had believed I was the person who saved him.
But what if I had been protecting the person who destroyed us?
"Rosalind?"
Detective Bennett's voice sounded distant.
I stared through the glass window.
Tobias was still sitting outside.
His head was lowered.
Like he already knew.
Like he had been waiting for this moment.
"Who was that?" Detective Bennett asked.
I couldn't answer.
My throat felt closed.
"Rosalind."
I looked down at the phone.
The call had ended.
No goodbye.
No explanation.
Just a weapon carefully placed in my hand.
A weapon made of doubt.
"It was my aunt."
Detective Bennett's expression changed.
"Victoria Montgomery?"
I nodded.
"What did she say?"
I looked at Tobias.
The brother who had carried me through the river.
The brother who had lied to me for fifteen years.
"She said Tobias caused the accident that killed our parents."
Detective Bennett didn't react immediately.
That was what scared me.
She didn't dismiss it.
She didn't laugh.
She simply reached for the folder.
"Did she provide evidence?"
"No."
"Did she explain why she believes this?"
"No."
Detective Bennett leaned forward.
"Rosalind, listen carefully."
Her voice was calm.
"People who are involved in crimes often create alternative stories. They don't just hide evidence. They create confusion."
I looked at her.
"Are you saying she's lying?"
"I'm saying we investigate facts."
She glanced toward Tobias.
"Not accusations."
I wanted to believe her.
I wanted to believe there was an easy answer.
A villain.
A victim.
A clear line between right and wrong.
But my life no longer had clear lines.
Only cracks.
Tobias stood when I walked out of the interview room.
He looked at me.
Immediately, he knew.
"What happened?"
I stopped in front of him.
For a few seconds, I saw my little brother.
The boy who used to run through our father's garden.
The boy who taught me how to ride a bicycle.
The boy who cried when our mother died.
Then I saw the man who had hidden an entire life from me.
"She called me."
His face changed.
"Who?"
I swallowed.
"Victoria."
Silence.
Tobias looked away.
That was enough.
My heart sank.
"You know what she told me."
He didn't answer.
"Tobias."
His shoulders dropped.
"Yes."
The word hurt more than I expected.
"You knew she would say that?"
"I knew she would try."
"Try?"
My voice rose.
"She accused you of killing our parents."
The entire hallway went quiet.
Tobias closed his eyes.
"I know."
I stared at him.
"You know?"
"I've known for years that she would eventually use that."
"Why?"
He looked at me.
"Because she was there."
I froze.
"What?"
"The night our parents died."
My breathing stopped.
Tobias sat down slowly.
"Rosalind, there are things I never told you because I thought keeping them from you would protect you."
I laughed bitterly.
"Everyone keeps saying that."
My voice cracked.
"Everyone lies to me and calls it protection."
He looked down.
"I deserve that."
For once, he didn't defend himself.
That hurt more.
"Tell me everything."
Tobias nodded.
"When our parents died, I was fifteen."
I sat across from him.
"I remember."
"No."
His voice was quiet.
"You remember what everyone told you."
A chill moved through me.
"Then tell me what happened."
Tobias stared at his hands.
"That night, Dad asked me to meet him at the office."
"Why?"
"He had discovered someone was stealing from the company."
"The same records?"
He nodded.
"He told me he needed someone he trusted."
I frowned.
"Why you?"
"Because he suspected someone close to him."
The hallway seemed colder.
"He thought someone in the family was involved."
I whispered:
"Victoria."
Tobias didn't answer.
But his silence was enough.
"What happened after that?"
"He told me not to tell anyone."
Tobias looked up.
"Especially not Victoria."
My heart raced.
"So Dad suspected her?"
"Yes."
I stood.
"Then why did you tell me she helped raise us?"
"Because she did."
The answer confused me.
Tobias continued.
"People are not always one thing, Rosalind."
He looked exhausted.
"Someone can love you and still betray you."
That sentence stayed between us.
"That night, Dad and Mom left the office."
"And you followed them?"
"No."
He shook his head.
"I followed Garrett."
My eyes widened.
"Garrett?"
"He was there."
My stomach twisted.
"Why?"
"Because he had been meeting with Dad."
"About the stolen money?"
Tobias nodded.
"I saw them arguing."
"What were they saying?"
Tobias closed his eyes.
"I couldn't hear everything."
"Everything?"
"Only pieces."
He looked at me.
"But I heard Garrett say one thing."
"What?"
Tobias's voice lowered.
"He said, 'If you tell her, we all lose everything.'"
My blood ran cold.
"We?"
Tobias nodded.
"Then Dad told him to leave."
"What happened next?"
"I went after Garrett."
"Why?"
"Because I thought he was involved."
A painful expression crossed his face.
"I was right."
I stared at him.
"What did you see?"
Tobias was silent for a long time.
Then he answered.
"I saw Garrett tampering with the car."
The world stopped.
"But he wasn't alone."
My hands tightened.
"Who was with him?"
Tobias looked at me.
And for a second, I wished he would lie.
Because the truth was becoming unbearable.
"Victoria."
I closed my eyes.
Two people.
My aunt.
My husband.
Working together.
But then why would she accuse Tobias?
"What about the accident?"
Tobias looked away.
"That's the part I never understood."
"What?"
"I got to the car before they left."
My face went pale.
"What do you mean?"
"I was angry."
He swallowed.
"I wanted to confront Garrett."
A terrible thought entered my mind.
"You were near the car."
"Yes."
Silence.
"I grabbed the door."
My heart stopped.
"And?"
Tobias's eyes filled with guilt.
"I saw something inside."
"What?"
"A broken piece of metal."
He looked at me.
"I pulled it out."
I didn't understand.
"What metal?"
"The brake line."
My breath caught.
"The brake line was already damaged?"
"Yes."
Tobias nodded.
"And when I pulled it, I thought I caused the accident."
The hallway blurred.
"No."
"That's what I believed."
"Tobias..."
"I thought I killed them."
His voice broke.
"That's why I never told anyone."
I stared at him.
My brother.
A fifteen-year-old boy carrying a crime he didn't commit.
"But you knew later."
He nodded.
"Years later, I found proof."
"That Garrett and Victoria did it."
"Yes."
"Then why didn't you tell me?"
His eyes met mine.
"Because every time I got close to exposing them, something happened."
"What?"
"Someone threatened you."
My blood went cold.
"Me?"
He nodded.
"Anonymous messages. Photos of you leaving work. Notes left at the house."
I remembered.
The strange things I had ignored.
The feeling of being watched.
I thought I was imagining it.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because you were happy."
I stared at him.
"Happy?"
"You loved Garrett."
His voice softened.
"And after losing our parents, I couldn't take another person away from you."
My anger weakened.
Not disappeared.
But weakened.
Then Detective Bennett's voice interrupted.
"Rosalind."
I turned.
She was holding another file.
Her expression was serious.
"We found something."
I walked toward her.
"What?"
She opened the folder.
Inside was a printed document.
A bank transfer.
A payment.
The sender's name was hidden.
But the recipient was clear.
Garrett Vale.
The amount was enormous.
And the date was three years ago.
The month before my wedding.
My hands shook.
"Who sent this?"
Detective Bennett looked at me.
"We traced the account."
"And?"
She hesitated.
Then handed me another page.
The signature at the bottom was familiar.
Too familiar.
My heart sank.
Because the money that Garrett received before marrying me...
Came from someone I had trusted my entire life.
Someone who had raised me.
Someone who had just accused my brother.
Victoria Montgomery.
Detective Bennett looked at me.
"There is one more thing."
I looked up.
"What?"
She placed a photograph on the table.
A photograph taken three years ago.
Before my wedding.
Garrett and Victoria were standing together outside a hotel.
But that wasn't what made me freeze.
It was the person standing beside them.
The person whose face had been hidden in every story.
The person they were all afraid of.
Because behind Garrett and Victoria...
May you like
Was my father.
Alive.
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