Without wasting words with her stepmother, Valerie's slender fingers wrapped around the sleek recording device as she pressed play. The room fell silent, mesmerized by the conversation unfolding from the small speaker. Valerie's steady gaze locked onto her stepmother, whose expression had transformed from madness to shock.
After the whole conversation was played, Mr. Wright's eyes widened in astonishment, his voice booming through the room. "Benjamin is alive?!" His face paled, as if the very foundations of his world had shifted.
Old Madam Wright's countenance darkened, her wrinkled brow furrowing in concern. Her eyes, once bright with warmth, now seemed to hold a thousand unspoken questions. She, too, had been kept in the dark about Benjamin's survival.
"All these years, you've been scheming under my roof with my stepbrother?!" Mr. Wright raged. He'd been living a lie.
