It was an impressive performance. If I didn’t have Victor’s words, if I didn’t have the report, I might have even believed her. “Rachel,” I said, my voice finally breaking a little. “The waiter saw everything. Victor. He saw you put something in my glass while I was on the phone.”
The silence that followed was deafening. Derek looked at Rachel, who had stopped crying. Her face now showed something different. It was no longer fear or shock. It was cold calculation.
“This is ridiculous,” Derek finally spoke. “You’re accusing us based on the testimony of a waiter and a lab report that could have been faked.”
Nora smiled, a humorless, chilling smile. “That’s exactly why we have a guest waiting to join us,” she said, picking up her phone. Seconds later, the door opened and a tall, serious-looking man entered.
“This is Martin Miller,” Nora introduced. “Former detective, now a private consultant. Mr. Miller has spent the last forty-eight hours investigating the two of you.” I watched the panic finally bloom, real and raw, in Rachel’s eyes. “He found out, for example, that Derek made several online searches about the effects of propranolol. He found out that Rachel used a fake name to buy the drug at a pharmacy on the other side of town. And he found out that you two owe over two million dollars to people who are not known for their patience.”
“What do you want?” Rachel finally asked, her voice low and defeated.
“I want to understand how my own daughter got to this point,” I said, a wave of genuine sadness washing over me. “How did money become more important than love, family… than everything I thought I had taught you?”
Rachel finally looked me in the eye. There were no more tears, no fear. There was only a coldness that frightened me. “You want to know why?” she asked, her voice surprisingly calm. “Because you always cared more about your hotels, your money, your precious legacy than me. Because after Dad died, you drowned yourself in work and left me aside. You promised that one day everything would be mine, and then you decided to donate it all to a stupid foundation.”
The rawness of the confession made everyone in the room hold their breath.
“You have two options,” I said, my voice now firm. “First option: Nora calls the police right now. You are arrested for attempted murder. You’ll spend years in prison.”