The Lie Of That Night Chapter 13
After her initial shock, Paulina’s tears only grew more intense.
She shrieked in denial: “No! Terry, none of this is true. Someone is framing me.”
“It’s Gretchen, it has to be her. She hates me for taking Ricky away, so she forged all this to drive a wedge between us.”
Seeing Terrence’s face turn ashen, she immediately switched to sobbing: “Terry, I have a daughter too! Juli has been frail since childhood, and I’ve worried myself sick over her, wishing I could give her the very best in the world. I’m a mother too — how could I possibly harm someone else’s child?”
“Let alone Ricky, whom I’ve raised for three years — I already see him as my own flesh and blood. How could I ever do something so heartless and cruel?”
She wept so hard her whole body trembled, as if she were bearing an unbearable injustice.
Terrence’s expression softened for a moment.
Indeed, Paulina’s love for Julia could not be faked.
Over the years, when Julia was critically ill several times, she had stayed by her bedside without rest. That anxiety and exhaustion could not have been an act.
Could a mother who would give everything for her daughter really be so vicious to another child?
That motherly love, perhaps…
A crack appeared in the icy coldness of Terrence’s eyes.
Paulina dropped to her knees with a thud. “Terry, I, Paulina, swear to the heavens. If I ever harbored the slightest intent to harm Ricky, if even a single one of these things was done by me…”
She paused, a look of grim determination flashing in her eyes.
“Then let my daughter Juli… let Juli die a terrible death! May lightning strike her down.”
“What nonsense are you saying!”
Terrence cut her off sharply, his brows tightly furrowed.
To swear on Julia’s life…
Most of the suspicion in his heart was swept away.
If she were not truly innocent, what mother would curse her own daughter in such a way?
He closed his eyes wearily, his mind in utter chaos.
His doubts about the evidence, his lingering trust in Paulina, his pity for Julia, and his worry for Roderick all tangled and tore at him.
Paulina lay prostrate on the ground, secretly letting out a sigh of relief.
She had passed this hurdle, for now.
As long as Terrence softened, she would have a chance…
Meanwhile, the people Sebastian had sent out worked with remarkable efficiency.
He stared at the information on his tablet, his gaze icy cold.
The car accident was confirmed to be a deliberate silencing.
A distant private security camera had captured a license-less car intentionally ramming into Roderick by the roadside.
A comparison of the driver’s profile matched closely with the “fixer” connected to Paulina.
The evidence chain for the poisoning and the fall from the balcony was also complete.
He made an anonymous call to the police while organizing the evidence and heading toward the emergency room.
When Terrence saw Sebastian return, he instinctively took a step back.
Sebastian merely glanced at him and tossed a file folder at his feet.
Terrence looked at him in shock and suspicion, his heart pounding wildly for no reason.
Suppressing his pain, he bent down to pick it up, his hands trembling as he pulled out the contents.
On top were several enlarged surveillance screenshots.
They clearly showed the process of a license-less car crashing into a child.
The attached documents below detailed the connection between this “driver” and Paulina.
They included communication records, financial transactions, and even the background of this individual.
It was the same group who had previously handled the “railing incident” for Paulina and attempted to silence Gretchen.
Further down was even more direct evidence of Roderick’s “poisoning incident.”
A video, shot from a hidden angle in Paulina’s bedroom, showed her personally mixing poison into the vitamin gummies Roderick regularly ate.
The timestamp was from the night before the incident.
Finally, there was a brief report.
The car accident Roderick suffered today was a deliberate act of murder.
The mastermind pointed to Paulina.
“No… impossible… this can’t be true…”
Terrence’s breath stopped abruptly.
It felt as if all the blood in his body had suddenly reversed course, rushing to his head and then crashing back down to his feet.