Page 95 of Owned By a Billionaire

I took a deep breath and faced my son. “I was twenty. She’d been drinking and accused me of flirting with Harry. Alice was pointing in my face and acting aggressively, and I pushed her off me. She stumbled and fell onto the ground and lost consciousness.”

“Why didn’t you call an ambulance?”

“Rey made me believe she was dead. I’ve only just discovered that he lied to me.” I caught my breath. “I thought she was dead, Declan.”

“If you’d called the police, as you should have, she’d still be alive.”

“And you wouldn’t be,” I returned.

Our eyes locked. Yes, it was a tangled web of contradictions.

Manon knocked on the door and entered.

“Not now,” Declan said.

I sighed. “No, let her stay.”

“It’s all in that letter, I take it?” he asked.

I nodded, squirming, in the hope he wouldn’t ask to read it.

“Then it’s incriminating. It will be your word against a dead man’s.”

“A dead man who was running a criminal empire.” My mouth formed a tight line. “She brought the original letter, which I’m now in possession of.”

“Then burn it and tell her to go fuck herself.” Manon’s mouth curled slightly. “Sorry.”

“No. It’s probably not a bad idea.” Declan sighed. “I don’t know what to think. We always suspected something, but not this.”

I couldn’t stand the idea of my son seeing me as a scheming murderer. “Alice was strangled,” I said at last.

“How would you know that?” He frowned.

“The detective that interviewed me revealed the coroner’s findings. I’m not a murderer, Declan. It was just a terrible accident.” I shook my head. “I trusted Reynard when he said Alice was dead. I was young and scared. He convinced me that walking away was my only option. That my name and reputation would be stained forever otherwise.”

A long, aching silence followed.

“You do believe me?” My voice cracked. “I’ve made some terrible calls in my life, but I’ve never resorted to murder.”

“I believe you, Grandmother.” Manon put her arm around me. “We can work this out. Destroy the letter. I’m sure we can find dirt on Natalia.” Her face lit up. “I just thought of something. The underage girls. I was there. I have footage.”

“But won’t that implicate you?” Declan asked.

The breath trapped in my chest exited at this welcome shift away from Alice’s death.

Manon frowned. “I don’t care. If it brings Natalia and her brothers down, then it’s worth going to court. And the brothers are running drugs. Drake’s still got that footage of that shooting—I can’t understand how Crisp got away with that.”

“Rey had an extensive network of powerful men on his side,” I said.

“Then we’ll have to get as much dirt on them as we can because there’s no way in hell they’re getting any more land,” Declan said, rising. “I think it’s best we keep this to ourselves for now.”

I turned to face my son. “Please say you believe me.” My mouth trembled as tears burned at the back of my eyes.

His very slight nod helped unlock some of the tension in my shoulders. I’d created a moral conundrum, and I couldn’t blame Declan for having to grapple with this new conflict.

Declan added, “I think we need to convene a meeting with Drake and Carson to find a way to catch the brothers red-handed.”

“What about Natalia? She’s heir to a massive fortune. She won’t go away so easily,” I said.

---