Secrets 284
Chapter 284 The Trap
:
La 90
Finished
Aurora’s lies were venomous–and now they dripped across Grace’s name.
When Hawthorne slid the transcript across the table, Grace nearly bit through her lip.
“This is slander!” she snapped, shaking with fury.
“Calm down,” Hawthorne said evenly. “Think of how you can prove your innocence.”
Grace drew a long breath, forced her voice steady. “Kramer Corp vehicles get all their tires through Michelin’s official channels. And Tiger? His real name is Wang Hu. He went to prison three years ago for aggravated assault. That number in your records? Not even his!”
The room shifted. For a moment, the officers exchanged glances.
Desperate, Grace grasped at another thread. “That bruise Aurora’s showing? She got it when she was holding on to me. We met to talk business–Roberto was there. I sprained my ankle walking around, she helped me, I must’ve grabbed her too hard. That’s all.”
Her voice wavered. It sounded flimsy, and she knew it.
The officers didn’t buy it. One of them slammed a warrant on the desk.
“Ms. Kramer, during the search of your countryside villa, we found car modification parts identical to those in the surveillance footage. And this…”
A bag slid across the steel table. Inside was a diamond–studded cufflink, engraved with a single letter: K.
Grace stared at it, her pupils dilating.
“That’s not mine. You can investigate!”
But Hawthorne’s voice cut like a blade. “Tiger confessed. The person who ordered the crash- was you.”
Grace’s mind went blank. No. It wasn’t possible.
Evidence too neat. Too damning. It reeked of a setup.
She clamped her mouth shut. “From now on, I won’t speak without my lawyer.”
Eyes closed, she tried to piece it together. Aurora had panicked, tossed her name out as a shield. But why had so much evidence surfaced so quickly, as if waiting to be found?
8:31 Sat, Sep 27
Chapter 284 The Trap
As if someone wanted her trapped forever.
:
90
Finished
Her thoughts snapped to one name. Jasper Fletcher. Only someone like him could orchestrate a cage so tight.
Elsewhere, Martha’s hands trembled as she thrust her phone under Rebecca’s nose.
“Look! Scarlett’s finally slipped! That phone call? She never made it! It’s a hole we can use. If we expose her, the internet will eat her alive. And Connor–he made it clear, didn’t he? He still cares for you!”
Rebecca sat at the window, twirling a lipstick idly, her face unreadable. Only a cool mm slipped from her lips.
“Don’t just hum!” Martha pressed, shoving the livestream closer. “If we go to the reporters right now, we can say Scarlett’s faking everything, climbing over you to get famous. They’ll turn on her.”
Rebecca finally turned, eyes cold enough to freeze the room.
“And when the reporters ask me questions, then what? When they ask what my relationship with Connor really was? When they ask where he was when the Joyners went under? When they ask why he didn’t save anyone the night of the fire? When they ask what I did?”
Martha’s words caught in her throat. She stammered, “We’ll just… say you and Connor were clean, that he only pitied us-”
“Pity?” Rebecca’s laugh was sharp, edged with scorn. “Mother, you still don’t see? Connor came to me only because the Joyner family had value left. Once it collapsed, he ran to Scarlett. Do you call that pity? It’s calculation.”
She rose, moved to the mirror, inspecting her face. Prison had whittled her down, left her cheeks hollow, but her eyes–bright once with innocence–now gleamed with cold cunning.
“Connor’s nothing now. A beaten dog. He thinks Scarlett’s his way back, but she’s not the fool he used to toy with.”
Martha blinked, baffled, “But… don’t you still like him? Before, you used to say–‘non him, none
other.’”
Rebecca cut her off. “Before.”
That one word landed like a knife, laced with quiet contempt.