Chapter 7 - WHAT RACHEL REMEMBERED
Julian reached for the laptop.
“What’s that?”
Eddie hesitated.
“I don’t know.”
“You kept the files for three years.”
“I never opened all of them.”
Julian clicked.
The video quality changed.
This wasn’t dashcam footage.
It appeared to be a phone recording.
Rachel Cross lay in a hospital bed.
Her face was bruised.
A white bandage wrapped around her forehead.
She looked terrified.
Julian whispered, “Rachel…”
The timestamp showed the video had been recorded four days after the crash.
Rachel looked directly into the camera.
“If you’re watching this, I decided not to trust the police report.”
Julian’s eyes filled.
Naomi watched Vanessa instead.
She looked worse with every word.
Rachel continued.
“I remember headlights.”
She took a shaky breath.
“I remember Trevor’s SUV behind me.”
Julian looked at him.
Trevor lowered his head.
“And I remember Vanessa calling me ten minutes before I crashed.”
Vanessa shouted, “Turn it off!”
Nobody moved.
Rachel continued.
“She told me if I gave Julian the documents, I would destroy his company.”
Vanessa lunged toward the laptop.
A police officer restrained her.
“Stop!”
Rachel’s recorded voice remained calm.
“But the documents don’t destroy Julian. They destroy her.”
Julian’s face tightened.
“She moved foundation money through fake housing contractors. I found invoices that didn’t match the properties.”
Marcus muttered, “There it is.”
Rachel continued.
“I copied everything.”
Vanessa screamed.
“That’s enough!”
Julian snapped.
“No. It isn’t.”
Vanessa stared at him.
Something finally broke through her performance.
Not guilt.
Fury.
“You think your sister was innocent?”
Julian looked at her.
“What did you say?”
“She hated me from the beginning.”
“She found out you were stealing.”
“She was obsessed with controlling you!”
“She nearly died!”
“I didn’t cut her brakes!”
The lot went silent.
Naomi narrowed her eyes.
Julian whispered, “Nobody said you cut them.”
Vanessa froze.
Marcus looked at Naomi.
There.
The kind of mistake people made when anger outran caution.
Vanessa tried to recover.
“Eddie said—”
“No,” Naomi said. “Eddie said the line was cut. He never said you personally did it.”
Vanessa’s lips parted.
No words came.
Trevor laughed bitterly.
“Oh, she knew.”
Vanessa whipped around.
“Shut up.”
Trevor looked at detectives.
“You want the whole story?”
“Trevor!”
He ignored her.
“She told me to scare Rachel.”
Julian’s face twisted.
“Scare her how?”
“Follow her. Make her nervous. Get her to pull over.”
“And the brakes?”
Trevor hesitated.
“I didn’t do that.”
Eddie shook his head.
“Somebody did.”
Trevor looked at Vanessa.
“She told me Rachel’s car had already been handled.”
Julian stepped toward Vanessa.
A detective blocked him.
“Handled?”
Vanessa said nothing.
“Handled?” Julian shouted.
Naomi touched his shoulder.
“Julian.”
He shook her off.
“You tried to kill my sister.”
“No!”
“Then who cut the brakes?”
Vanessa’s face changed again.
This time it wasn’t rage.
It was fear.
Naomi recognized the difference immediately.
Vanessa wasn’t afraid of prison.
She was afraid of someone.
That mattered.
Naomi stepped closer.
“Who did it?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“I want my lawyer.”
Marcus said, “Smartest thing you’ve said all night.”
Police began separating everyone.
Julian stood in the rain, staring at the woman he had planned to marry.
Vanessa passed him while officers escorted her toward a squad car.
For one second, she leaned close.
“I didn’t cut Rachel’s brakes.”
Julian didn’t respond.
Then Vanessa whispered something only he and Naomi could hear.
“You should ask your father who did.”
Julian’s face went pale.
Vanessa smiled.
May you like
And suddenly, the case was no longer just about her.
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