Page 58 of Saving it with My Best Friend's Brother

“No.” Arthur closed his eyes, looking suddenly old. “That’s what everyone assumed. What they wanted people to think. But your mother... she got away from them. Made it almost home.”

“Then what happened?” I asked, dreading the answer but needing to know.

“She lost control of the car,” Michael whispered, turning from the window with tears tracking down his face. “Real accident. Cruel irony. And I... I was the first one there. Found the documents scattered everywhere. Dad made me help hide them, said if anyone found them...”

“They’d kill whoever knew,” Arthur finished, monitors marking the weight of his words. “Including you kids. So we buried the truth. Let everyone think Crystal Ridge was responsible.”

“And the documents?” Amelia’s voice was barely audible above the steady beeping.

“Some we hid in the safe deposit box. Others...” Arthur met my eyes, age-old guilt visible on his face. “Your father found some, Hunter. That’s why...”

Understanding hit me like lightning. The hospital room was suddenly too bright, too small. “That’s why they killed him. He found proof of Wheeler’s uncle’s confession.”

Silence fell, broken only by the steady rhythm of monitors and the whisper of falling snow. I pulled Amelia closer as she processed this revelation about her mother’s death—not murder, but a tragic accident. About her father and brother’s years of guilt and secrets.

“Why tell us now?” she finally asked, her voice stronger than I expected.

“Because,” Arthur said quietly, “Crystal Ridge knows the truth. They’ve always known. And they’ve been using it, threatening to reveal how we lied, how we let everyone believe they were responsible...”

“Blackmailing you,” I realized, pieces clicking into place. “To keep Pine Haven vulnerable.”

Arthur nodded, the movement weary. “But now you have the actual evidence. Your mother’s proof of their other crimes. It’s time to end this. Time to tell the whole truth.”

Before anyone could respond, Claire burst in, bringing a gust of antiseptic hospital air. “They’re moving,” she said breathlessly. “Wheeler, Crystal Ridge—they’re calling an emergency press conference. In an hour.”

“About what?” Michael demanded, moving from the window.

Claire’s eyes were grim in the fluorescent light. “Everything. They’re going to expose it all—the accident, the cover-up, everything.”

Michael began pacing the hospital room, his shoes squeaking against the polished floor. “We can’t let them control this narrative.”

“We won’t,” I said firmly, watching Amelia process everything. Her face was pale under the harsh lights, but her spine was steel. “We beat them to it.”

“How?” Arthur asked, monitors marking his increased tension.

“By telling the truth ourselves.” Amelia’s voice was steady as she looked at me, her mother’s strength shining through. “All of it. No more secrets, no more hiding.”

Agent Blake, who had been quietly observing from the doorway, stepped forward. “We can have a press conference ready in thirty minutes. Beat them to the punch.”

“And say what?” Michael demanded, snow melting from his coat onto the floor. “That we lied about Mom’s death for years?”

“We say that grief makes people see conspiracies,” Amelia answered, her fingers warm and certain in mine. “That Crystal Ridge’s history of violence made us believe they were responsible. But now...” She squeezed my hand. “Now we have proof of their real crimes. The Miller Lodge fire, Janet McKinley, the property fraud.”

I pulled her closer, pride warming my chest. “We tell the truth to take away their power.”

“They’ll still try to spin it,” Claire warned from the doorway, her tablet clutched tight. “Make it look like we’re covering up something worse.”

“Let them try.” Amelia’s voice hardened like mountain granite. “We have something they don’t.”

“What’s that?” Michael asked.

“Each other. The truth. And a whole town ready to stand with us.”

Arthur reached for his daughter’s hand, monitors catching the movement. “Margaret would be so proud of you.”

Tears glistened in Amelia’s eyes, but she smiled. “She saved all that evidence for a reason. Time to use it.”

Michael approached me as Claire and Agent Blake left to arrange the press conference, the room quieter without them.

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