Chapter 9
“Sir. Ma’am. I need a straight answer from you.” It was time for me to ask the question tha haunted me for years. “That night… Who exactly drugged me and Fern?”
That was the only reason I came back to this place.
Fern’s parents glanced at each other.
Guilt-I could see that in their eyes.
“Are you accusing my parents?” Fern snapped before either of them could speak. She slamme her palm on the table, eyes burning. “Your mother was the one hell-bent on making you marry into our family. She used dirty tricks! Don’t twist the story now!”
I didn’t even look at her. My focus stayed on the two across from me.
They shifted uncomfortably. The silence buzzed between us.
When I saw them hesitating, I let out a slow breath and said, “Even if you won’t admit it, I’ve go proof. I found the missing security footage from that night.”
The moment I said that, both of them flinched. Sweat started pouring down their faces.
‘I’ll… I’ll talk,” Fern’s dad finally said. His voice cracked as he spoke, his eyes shut like he couldr
face what he was about to admit.
‘I’ll tell you everything.
‘It wasn’t Jarrett’s mom.
‘It was me.”
Fern’s breath hitched beside me.
thought the engagement was falling apart,” he went on. “Fern was furious. Our business wa ailing. And you-” He looked at me for the first time. “You were a prodigy. Companies wer ining up to hire you.”
I wanted to keep you here…” His words trailed off into a sigh that seemed to pull years out o
- “I wanted… to tie you to this family.”
No…” Fern’s voice came out as a whisper. Her eyes darted between her dad and me. “Then wh did his mom confess?”
To protect him. And because she owed us,” her mom answered quietly. “She was homeles: when I took her in. When she found out what we’d done, we threatened her-told her if she said a word, her son would pay for it.”
‘She knew you were… close to the truth,” she added, glancing at me. “So she… took the fall.” My throat tightened. My vision blurred. Eight years of carrying that shame. Eight years of keeping quiet, thinking my mom had done something unforgivable.
She hadn’t. She’d saved me. And now she’s gone. She’d never come back.
Fern looked like her world had caved in. She dropped into her chair and froze for a few moments. “All this time… all these years… I hated you. And it was my parents…”
She covered her face with both hands.
Never had she probably imagined that the ones behind it all were her own parents.
“I’m so sorry, son,” Fern’s dad’s voice broke. “We were selfish. We let it go too far.”
Her mom chimed in, nodding desperately. “We never meant for you both to suffer. If only we’d
come clean sooner-”
I stared at them, my eyes burning. “Suffer? You think this was just about some fights? You wanna know what the last eight years were really like for me?”
I was choking on tears by now.
“Your precious daughter brought her boyfriends into our home like trophies. Made me cook for them. Clean after them.”
I held up a hand, counting. “Nineteen. There were 19 other men.”
“They ordered me around like I was a slave! If I didn’t move fast enough, they’d hit me. O
worse…
“Not a single cent of pay. Not one hot meal.
‘Your daughter humiliated me constantly. Your daughter held my mother’s life over my head lik a weapon.
‘Her nineteenth boyfriend? He killed my mom trying to impress your daughter!”
By the end, I was shouting.
Her parents looked like they’d been struck by lightning. They turned to look at Fern, horrified aces pale as death.
‘Jarrett… I’m sorry, baby…” Fern sobbed, clinging to my arm. “We… we wronged you. And you nom. I misunderstood everything. But your mom’s death… I didn’t know. I swear, I didn’t know i would go that far. I thought-I thought she was fine…
Her eyes were full of regret while mine, resentment.
‘Oh yeah? Would Jordan have dared steal my bonus without your say-so?
‘Would he have dared pretend to be me and cancelled my mom’s surgery, if you didn’t make Jame out of humiliating me?
‘Everyone knew, Fern-hurting me was the easiest way to make you smile.”
