Chapter 9 - The Motive Revealed
Veronica reached the bottom of the staircase, stepping daintily over a shattered piece of crystal. She looked down at her stepson, a cruel, mocking smile twisting her flawless lips.
"It already ended, Daniel," she replied, her voice echoing in the quiet, terrified hall. "It ended years ago. It ended the very day your foolish father decided to alter his will. He decreed that the majority of the family’s shares, the entire fortune I sacrificed my youth for, would go directly to his firstborn grandson."
Valeria, trembling on the floor beside her husband, shook her head, hot tears carving tracks through the dust on her cheeks.
"We don't care about the shares," she sobbed, holding her hands protectively over her womb. "We don't need your money. Keep it all, just let him live!"
Veronica scoffed, a short, ugly sound of profound disdain.
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"It doesn't matter what you want, you naive little girl," she spat, her eyes narrowing as she stepped closer to the wreckage. She pointed the tip of the hunting knife directly at Valeria’s stomach. "As long as that child draws a single breath, everything I was promised vanishes. The board of directors will place the company into a trust for the heir, and I will be left with a mere pittance. I will not allow a squalling infant to steal what is rightfully mine."
The absolute ruthlessness in her eyes left no room for negotiation. She had planned this meticulously. The chandelier was supposed to look like a tragic lack of maintenance, eliminating Daniel, Valeria, and the unborn heir in one swift strike. Now that her initial plan had failed, she was fully prepared to execute them with her own hands.
