Chapter 4

I turned to look at Emily, and she was glaring at me with pure venom in her eyes. "You saw me? With your own eyes?"

"That's right."

"When?"

"It was today at noon." Her eyes flickered away for just a second.

I sneered, "Today at noon, I was in my room reading the whole time. The staff can confirm it."

One of the maids standing nearby immediately dropped her head and said quietly, "Yes, sir. Ms. Reed didn't leave her room at all during lunch."

Emily's face turned bright red in an instant. "I got the time wrong. It was yesterday. Yes, yesterday."

Helena jumped in right away. "Exactly. I saw it too. Charlotte, where did you hide the watch? Hand it over now."

I stared at this mother-daughter duo twisting the truth, and the whole thing felt absurd.

I said, "I already told you. I didn't take it."

"You won't admit it until you're cornered." Oscar's voice cut through the room like a whip. "Search her room."

Several bodyguards stormed into my bedroom and started tearing through everything.

My clothes hit the floor. My books scattered everywhere. They threw my things around like they were garbage.

Then one of the bodyguards reached under my pillow and pulled out the gold Patek Philippe.

Every eye in the room locked onto that watch.

Helena looked like she'd just won the lottery. She pointed at me and screamed, "Caught red-handed! What do you have to say for yourself now?"

Emily's face lit up with victory. She walked right up to me and dropped her voice to a whisper. "Charlotte, I told you that you should've never come back. This time, no one's going to save you."

I looked at her smug expression, then at the watch in the bodyguard's hand.

I smiled—slow and deliberate, letting the meaning sink in.

Oscar stared at me, and the disappointment in his eyes cut straight through. He closed them, and it looked like even that small movement took everything he had left.

He said, "Get her out of here. Send her abroad, and I never want to see her again. Not in this lifetime."

Two bodyguards stepped forward and grabbed my arms, one on each side. I didn't fight them.

As they dragged me toward the door, I caught sight of Emily leaning into Helena's arms. She mouthed something at me—silent but clear. "Goodbye.'

Yeah. Goodbye.

The bodyguards hauled me forward, their grip tight on my arms as they pulled me toward the exit.

Helena and Emily stood together in the living room, watching with cold, satisfied eyes. Oscar had his back to me, and he didn't turn around once.

My foot was about to cross the threshold when I stopped.

I twisted around, my gaze cutting past everyone else and landing squarely on Helena.

"Mom," I said quietly.

Helena flinched, and disgust flashed across her face. "What kind of trick are you trying to pull now?"

I ignored her tone and kept my voice calm. "Do you remember? When I was little, you used to hum this song all the time. You told me your mother taught it to you, and you were the only person in the world who knew it."

Helena's expression shifted.

It was an obscure folk song—buried deep in her childhood memories, something almost no one else would know.

I kept going. "The last line went, 'The moon falls into the sea, and the stars sleep beside it.'"

Helena's body began to tremble, and I could see her hands shaking at her sides. She had never told anyone about this, not a single soul.

"How could you possibly know?" Her voice cracked, and the words came out barely above a whisper.

I smiled coldly, "Because Emily told me herself yesterday."

I turned to face Emily, and her expression shifted to pure panic. "She also told me she found it in an old diary, and the owner's name was written right there on the first page."

I paused, letting the words hang in the air. "She said the name was something like Helena Reed."

Helena Reed—that was Helena's maiden name, the one she'd buried along with her past.

Something snapped inside Helena's mind, and I watched the last thread of her composure break.

She shoved Emily aside and lunged toward me, her fingers digging into my arm so hard I felt her nails breaking through my skin. "What did you say? Say that again."

Emily's face drained of all color in an instant, and she looked like she might faint.

She rushed forward and tried to pull Helena away from me. "Mom, don't listen to her. She's lying. I don't know anything about any diary."

But it was too late.

Oscar had sensed something was wrong, and he turned around with sharp eyes that swept back and forth between me and Emily. "What's wrong?"

Helena didn't answer him. She just stared at Emily with a look that could kill, and her eyes burned with the kind of rage that wanted to tear someone apart piece by piece. "Emily, tell me. How did you know that song?"

"I—" Emily stammered, and the words came out all jumbled. "I really did hear you talking in your sleep. Mom, you have to believe me."

The explanation sounded hollow now, and nobody was buying it.

Helena let go of me and started walking toward Emily, step by step. The wild desperation in her eyes made Emily stumble backward. "My diary! Where's my diary? What did you do with it?"

"I don't have it. I really didn't take it."

"Give it back to me." Helena lunged at her like a woman possessed, and she clawed at Emily's clothes, trying to rip them off.