Chapter 6
Nathan stared at the black flash drive resting in his palm.
Delaney’s smug expression vanished, replaced by sheer terror. She lunged toward Nathan, but this time, Arthur Sterling—the retired judge—grabbed her arm, holding her firmly in place.
“Let me go!” Delaney shrieked.
“Marcus,” Nathan said, his voice dangerously calm. “Do you know what is on this drive?”
Marcus tightened his grip on his silver cane. His confident posture faltered. “It’s a trick. The rambling of a sick woman.”
Nathan walked over to the audiovisual setup at the corner of the ballroom, used earlier for a slideshow of their engagement photos. He plugged the drive into the laptop.
The massive screen on the wall flickered to life.
A video file appeared. Nathan clicked play.
The image was grainy, recorded on an old webcam in the cedar room.
Rebecca appeared on the screen. She looked fragile, her hair thin from treatments, wrapped in the yellow cashmere coat Delaney had tried to destroy.
Sophie gasped, tears instantly spilling down her cheeks. “Mom.”
On the screen, Rebecca looked directly into the camera.
“If you are watching this, it means I am gone,” Rebecca’s voice echoed through the silent ballroom. It was weak, but filled with absolute clarity.
“I don’t have much time. The medication Delaney is giving me is making me confused. I wake up and find my name signed on documents I don’t remember reading.”
Nathan’s jaw clenched so hard a muscle twitched violently.
“Yesterday, I caught Delaney searching the safe,” Rebecca continued in the video. “She took Nathan’s grandfather’s watch. When I confronted her, she admitted she is working for a man named Marcus Vance.”
Marcus took a step backward toward the doors, but two of Nathan’s private security guards stepped in front of the exit, crossing their arms.
“Marcus is my biological father,” Rebecca said, a tear sliding down her pale cheek. “He abandoned my mother. Now, he wants the Sterling fortune. He placed Delaney in my home as my therapist. They are creating fake debts and forging deeds to steal Sophie’s inheritance.”
Delaney began to sob. “Turn it off! It’s a deepfake! It isn't real!”
Arthur Sterling tightened his grip on her arm. “Be quiet.”
“I know they are going to claim Nathan had an affair,” Rebecca’s video continued. “They want to destroy Nathan's reputation so he loses custody of Sophie. But Nathan has never been anything but faithful and devoted to me. He is the love of my life.”
Nathan closed his eyes, a single tear escaping, tracking down his stoic face.
“Eleanor,” Rebecca looked into the camera, smiling weakly. “If you found this in my dress, thank you. You were more of a mother to me than anyone. Please, protect Sophie. Tell Nathan I love him. And use the second file on this drive.”
The video ended, leaving a deafening silence in the room.
Nathan opened the laptop files. There was a second document on the drive.
He clicked it.
A high-resolution scan of a legal document appeared on the screen.
It was a blood test from a private laboratory, dated three years ago.
Nathan read it aloud, his voice vibrating with rage.
“Tox-screen results for Rebecca Sterling. Positive for high levels of Thallium.”
The guests erupted in shock.
Thallium. Rat poison.
I felt my knees buckle. They hadn’t just tricked Rebecca.
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“She didn't die from the tumor,” Nathan whispered, turning to look at Delaney. The pure, unadulterated fury in his eyes made even the security guards step back.
“You poisoned my wife.”
