“He said Robert was delirious. He said dying men imagine enemies everywhere. He told me the compassionate thing was letting him rest.”
The table between us suddenly felt miles wide.
“Did he tell you to give the morphine?”
Diana covered her mouth.
“That’s not fair.”
“Neither is lying about a dead man.”
Now the tears spilled freely, but tears had long stopped impressing me.
I placed an envelope on the table.
“You will return the money. You will sign an affidavit confirming Richard encouraged you to raise false suspicion after losing access to my assets. You will confirm I had absolutely no involvement in my father’s medication. If you refuse, Daniel sends the file to the district attorney, the medical board, and the trustee overseeing your settlement.”
“You’d ruin me.”
“You tried to ruin my father.”
She signed by five o’clock.
But Emily was different.
I found her in an East Village coffee shop with a suitcase beside her chair and hatred hidden behind oversized sunglasses.
“You look tired,” I said.
She laughed. “You look lonely.”
“Richard told me the smear campaign about my father was your idea.”
Emily slowly removed her sunglasses. “Richard talks too much when he’s afraid.”
“You planted the idea with Diana.”
“I reminded her about things she already knew.”
“You mean things you distorted.”
Emily smiled.
“You stole my future, Clara. The penthouse. The title. The life. Everything I was supposed to have.”
“You were my assistant.”
“I was your shadow,” she hissed. “Do you know what it’s like standing next to someone who has everything while being expected to feel grateful for scraps?”
“You chose Richard.”
“I chose the door he promised to unlock.”
“And now?”
Her smile turned glacial.
“Now I make sure you never sleep peacefully again without wondering what really happened in that room.”
I wanted to slap her.
Instead, I stood up.
“Enjoy the suitcase,” I said.
But as I disappeared into the afternoon crowd, her words followed me like smoke.
Not because I believed her.
Because once doubt enters, it never bothers knocking again.
Part 4
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