Chapter 6 - THE CONFESSION
Julian parked the car a few houses down.
He handed me the gun.
“I don't know how to use this,” I whispered, my hands shaking.
“Just hold it. I’ll go in first.”
We crept toward the open front door of the rundown house.
The silence was heavier than the dark.
I stepped carefully over the threshold, following Julian.
The living room was empty.
Overturned chairs. A shattered lamp on the floor.
There had been a struggle.
Then we heard a voice coming from the back bedroom.
Victoria’s voice.
“You really thought you could hide her from me, Maria?”
Julian and I moved silently down the narrow hallway.
We peered around the edge of the bedroom door.
Victoria was standing in the center of the room.
She was holding a silver lighter, flicking the flame on and off.
Tied to a wooden chair was Maria, the former night nurse.
She looked bruised and exhausted.
And huddled in the corner of the room, crying silently, was a teenage girl with blonde hair.
Lily.
She wasn't a little girl anymore. She was almost eighteen.
“She’s your daughter, Victoria,” Maria pleaded, her voice raspy. “How can you do this?”
“She stopped being my daughter the day she threatened to tell Sterling about the hit-and-run,” Victoria said coldly.
Victoria walked toward the corner.
Lily shrank back against the wall.
“Mom, please,” Lily sobbed. “I won’t tell anyone. I promise.”
“You already told him, sweetheart,” Victoria said, her voice dripping with fake sympathy. “You told your new daddy. And look what happened to him.”
Answer one: Lily confessed the truth to Mr. Sterling, triggering the change in the will.
“You poisoned him,” Maria spat. “You forced me to give him the digitalis, or you said you would kill Lily.”
“And you were such a good, obedient nurse,” Victoria smiled.
Julian stepped into the doorway.
“It’s over, Victoria.”
Victoria spun around, dropping the lighter.
She looked at Julian. Then at me, holding the gun with trembling hands.
For a second, she looked shocked.
But Victoria was a master of survival.
Her shock instantly melted into a calm, terrifying smirk.
“Julian, darling,” she said smoothly. “Put the gun away. You don't want to make a mistake.”
“The mistake was my father marrying you.”
“Your father loved me,” Victoria laughed.
“He hated you,” Maria interrupted from the chair. “He spent his last breath cursing your name.”
Maria looked at Julian.
“Julian. The signature page. I have it.”
Victoria lunged toward Maria.
I raised the gun.
“Stop!” I yelled.
My voice didn't shake. I surprised myself.
Victoria froze.
She looked at me, the maid she had treated like dirt for two years.
“You won't shoot me, Clara. You’re just the help.”
“I’m the help holding the gun,” I said.
Julian walked over to Maria and untied the ropes.
Maria gasped in pain as her arms fell free.
She reached into the lining of her cheap winter coat.
She pulled out a folded piece of thick cream paper with a jagged, torn edge.
The signature page.
“He signed it the night before she poisoned him,” Maria wept. “I witnessed it. I took it to protect Julian’s inheritance.”
Julian took the page.
He looked at it. His father’s bold, undeniable signature was perfectly intact at the bottom.
“It’s over,” Julian said to Victoria. “You have nothing.”
Victoria stared at the page.
Her calm demeanor finally shattered.
Her face twisted into pure, unadulterated rage.
She screamed and charged at me.
She didn't care about the gun. She only wanted to destroy us.
She slammed into me, knocking the gun from my hands.
We crashed to the floor.
Victoria’s hands clawed at my face. She was incredibly strong, fueled by panic and madness.
“I earned that house!” she shrieked, her hands wrapping around my throat.
I gasped for air, grabbing her wrists, trying to pry her fingers away.
Dark spots danced in my vision.
Then, suddenly, the weight was lifted off me.
Julian had grabbed Victoria by the back of her designer coat and hauled her off me.
He threw her against the wall.
“Don't touch her!” Julian roared.
Victoria slumped against the floorboards, panting.
Lily ran over to me and helped me sit up.
“Are you okay?” the girl asked, crying.
I coughed, nodding. “I’m okay.”
Julian picked up the gun.
May you like
He pulled his phone out and dialed 911.
“Yes,” Julian said into the phone. “I need police at 1402 Willow Creek Drive. I have a confession to the murder of Richard Sterling.”
