Chapter 29 Claire's Arrest
Lucas's pov
I was eating cereal in my apartment when I saw the e news alert on my phone.
"BREAKING: Police investigating Richard Montgomery's death as possible homicide"
My spoon dropped into the bowl.No.
No, no, no.This can't be.
I grabbed the remote and turned on the TV.Every channel was covering it, there was no other news apart from that.
"Sources say new evidence suggests Richard Montgomery, tech mogul and father of billionaire Lara Montgomery Otto, may have been poisoned..."
My phone rang. It was a call from my mother.
I picked up my phone and answered the call.
"Lucas! Have you seen the news?"
“Yes—"
This is that bitch's doing! She's trying to frame us!
“Mother—
"Don't say anything to anyone. I'm calling our lawyer. This is absurd. They have no proof—"
There was a loud knock on her end.
"What was that?" I asked.
"Someone's at the door. Hold on."
I heard her footsteps. The door opening. Then shouting.
"Claire Ward, you're under arrest for the murder of Richard Montgomery."
"WHAT? This is outrageous! I didn't—get your hands off me!"
"You have the right to remain silent—"
"I SAID GET OFF ME!"
More shouting and struggling sounds.Then the line went dead.
I sat there holding my phone.
They arrested my mother.They actually arrested her.
I drove to the mansion.
Police cars were everywhere, even new vans and Reporters as well.I pushed through the crowd.
Veronica and Natasha were standing on the front steps. Both of them were crying.
"What happened?" I asked.
"They arrested Mother," Veronica said. Voice shaking. "For murder. They're saying she poisoned Richard Montgomery."
"Where is she now?"
"They took her. Lucas, what's happening?
This can't be real”.
A detective approached us.
"Lucas Ward?"
"Yes?"
You are needed at the station to answer some questions.
"Am I under arrest?"
"Not yet. But we need to talk."
My blood went cold.
Not yet.
At the station, they put me in an interrogation room. There were
two detectives. A woman named Martinez and a man named Chen.
"Mr. Ward, we have evidence that your mother poisoned Richard Montgomery over a period of six months. Were you aware of this?"
"No. Absolutely not.”
"You visited Richard frequently during his illness, am I right?"
Yes, but—
"And you were living in the same house as your mother during this time?"
"Yes."
"So you expect us to believe you had no idea what she was doing?"
I swallowed. "I didn't know she was poisoning him."
"But you suspected something?
I didn't talk for a moment, didn't know what I'm supposed to say, but then I responded.
Because yeah. I had suspected.
I'd seen her with those medications. Heard her talking about how much easier things would be when Richard was gone.
And I'd done nothing.
"Mr. Ward?"
I... I didn't know for sure.
But you suspected.
"Maybe. I don't know. I—"
Did you at any point attempt to stop your mother?
"No."
Did you warn Richard Montgomery?
"No."
Did you tell anyone what you suspected?
"No."
Martinez leaned forward.
Then you're an accomplice.
The word hit me like a punch.
I didn't kill him—
"No. But you helped. By staying silent. By letting it happen. That makes you complicit."
"I want a lawyer."
"That's a very good and smart choice."
They left me in that room for two hours.
When my lawyer finally showed up, his face was grim.
"This is bad, Lucas. Honestly, it is really bad."
"I didn't kill anyone!"
"No. But the evidence suggests you knew what was happening and did nothing. That's accessory to murder in most states."
"What does that mean?"
"It means you're going to be arrested. Probably today."
I felt sick immediately.
Can we make a deal?
"Maybe. If you testify against your mother. But you'll still do time."
"How much time?"
"Ten years. Fifteen. Maybe twenty if they want to make an example of you."
Twenty years.
I'd be almost sixty when I got out.
My life will now be over.
And everything I did, and worked for now is gone.
They arrested me the next day.And showed up at my apartment with handcuffs and cameras.
"Lucas Ward, you're under arrest as an accessory to the murder of Richard Montgomery."
The reporters went wild.
Shouting questions. Taking photos.
I kept my head down as they led me out.
Put me in the back of a police car like a common criminal.
At the station, they photographed me. Fingerprinted me. Took my belt and shoelaces.
Put me in a cell.
A real cell. With bars and a toilet and a thin mattress on a metal frame.
I sat on that mattress and put my head in my hands.
This was my life now.
Prison orange. Steel bars. No privacy.
All because of what my mother did.
No.
All because of what I let her do.
I knew. Deep down, I'd always known.
And I'd said nothing.
My lawyer came to see me that evening.
"The evidence is solid," he said. "Purchase records. Witnesses. Timeline. Everything points to your mother. And your knowledge of it."
"I didn't know for sure—"
"Doesn't matter. You suspected and did nothing. That's enough."
"So what do I do?"
"You have two options. Fight it and probably lose. Or make a deal."
"What kind of deal?"
"Testify against your mother. Tell them everything you know. Cooperate fully. It might get your sentence reduced to ten years instead of twenty."
Ten years.
Still a decade of my life is now gone.
"What about Mother?"
"What about her? She killed a man, Lucas. She deserves whatever she gets."
I thought about my mother. The woman who raised me. Who pushed me to succeed. Who wanted the best for our family.
The woman who murdered Richard Montgomery in cold blood.
"I'll do it," I said. "I'll testify."
"You're sure?"
"Yes."
Because what choice did I have?
My life was over either way.
At least this way, I'd get out before I was sixty.
That night, lying on that thin mattress in my cell, I thought about everything.
About Lara. About Richard. About the choices I'd made.
I destroyed Lara for a company that was now worthless.
I helped murder her father for money I'd never see.
I threw away the one good thing in my life.
For what?
Pride? Greed? Lisa?
It was all for nothing.
I'd lost everything anyway.
And now I was here. In a cell. Facing decades in prison.
Everything I'd feared happening to Lara had happened to me instead.
She'd survived. Thrived. Built an empire. Found love.
While I'd destroyed myself from the inside out.
The irony was almost funny.Almost.
I rolled over. Faced the wall.
I closed my eyes.but I couldn't sleep.
Just kept seeing Richard's face.
The man who'd trusted me. Who'd welcomed me into his family.
The man my mother murdered while I watched and did nothing.
I deserved this.
Every second of it.
And that was the worst part.
Knowing I had no one to blame but myself.