CHAPTER 5: The Confession
Michael lunged at me.
I was faster.
In my line of work, I had learned to defend myself. Not from corporate enemies. But from the dangers of working in remote, hostile environments.
I sidestepped his attack and drove my elbow into his ribs.
He crumpled to the floor, gasping.
Vanessa screamed.
"Michael!"
I looked at her.
"Stay out of this, Vanessa. You've done enough."
She didn't listen.
She grabbed a letter opener from my father's desk and lunged at me with the same crazed desperation I had seen when she attacked my mother.
But I was ready.
I caught her wrist, twisted, and the letter opener clattered to the floor.
"Enough," I said calmly. "It's over."
The police arrived ten minutes later.
I had called them before I entered the house. They had been waiting nearby, ready to move in.
They found everything.
The burned documents in the fireplace. The empty safe. The photographs I had already copied. And a signed confession from Michael—not given willingly, but recorded on my phone when he had admitted everything in the study.
The recording was played in court weeks later.
Michael: "I killed his father. The old man found out about my fraud ring. He threatened to expose me. So I ended it. I choked him. Made it look like a heart attack."
Vanessa: "And the mother?"
Michael: "She'll sign. Or she'll suffer. I don't care either way. By the time Daniel knows anything, we'll be gone."
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That was the moment the trial turned.
