Chapter 178

Chapter 178
Renée's POV

“Wh- what?” She stuttered.

I let out a dramatic sigh.

“Remember when we were kids? And you'd make me compete with you to decide who the better actress was and every single time, father and Olga would choose you, despite the fact that you were clearly bad at it?” I asked and she frowned.

“I was better. I've always been better. Why do you think I did so well in acting school?” she argued and I rolled my eyes.

“Yes, yes. That acting academy somehow made you better. But you genuinely sucked when we were kids.” I said.

“What's this leading to?” She asked.
It still hadn't clocked in her head.

“Sabrina, I have always been the better actress” I said as I pushed my chair backwards and got on my feet.

“No. No. You promised” she said, the situation finally dawning on her as fear reflected in her eyes.

“When?” I asked and she swallowed.

“Renée please, don't do this” she begged.

“You murdered a person!” I yelled and she shook her head.

“No, no, it was Gregory. He made me do it. I said all that to cover for him” she said, tears streaming down her face again.

I scoffed. Unbelievable.
Acting? Again?

I turned to the two way mirror and stared at it.
Austin, I hope you're watching.

“You're miserable and evil.” I said, turning back to her.

“They are not going to believe you” she said and I laughed.

“They don't need to, they heard you themselves” I said and it finally hit her.

She stared at the cameras and recorders as their light came back on.

Fear. Undiluted fear settled behind her eyes as she scrambled off the chair and made her way towards me.

“Renée, please, don't do this” she begged and I laughed.

“I never thought I would see the day you would beg me, of all people. I've never even seen you beg anyone for anything” I said as laughter bubbled in my throat.

“You call me evil, yet you do this. How can you watch your own blood go to jail? How can you trick me like this?” She said, suddenly going from begging for her life to accusing me of being evil.

“Blood? You're not my blood, and even if you were, you think I'd let you go free just because of that?” I questioned.
She looked at me in shock.

“Ohhh, you thought I didn't know? That your lying mother deceived my father into believing that you were his child?” I said and she swallowed, her entire face frozen in shock, before she fell to her knees, and grabbed my leg.

She begged.
And begged.
And cried.
And begged.
And cried.

And I just watched her, before finally deciding to end the whole charade.

“Get off of me” I said, my tone emotionless, as I shook my leg.

She didn't budge.
I closed my eyes as I tried to tame the fast rising anger bubbling beneath my skin.

My eyes snapped open and I looked at the two-way mirror, signalling for someone to come in.

Two detectives rushed in, one male and one female and I watched as they basically pried her off of me.

I took a deep breath and turned my back on her, before making my way out, ignoring her screams and cries.

I hope she rots in hell.

I suppressed everything I was feeling as I was finally face to face with John again.

“That was brilliant” he said and I sighed.

I wasn't trying to be brilliant. I just wanted the right person to be punished properly. I wanted justice for Stella.
I swallowed past the lump in my throat, as I tried not to think of the things Sabrina said about her death.

Reflexively, my eyes searched the room for Austin. He was almost hiding in the corner he planted himself, as he avoided my gaze.

“Detective Austin,” I called and his eyes snapped to me, like a deer caught in headlights.
See how I still respected his title? That's what reasonable people do.
Not look down on anyone because of gender.

“I hope you can learn from this. You cannot afford to so blindly trust the words of your suspects. Let's hope your ego can handle that advice” I said and he nodded.

He apologized and thanked me for the advice.

Whatever.

“I trust you can handle Gregory William from here?” I asked and John nodded.

“Definitely” he assured me.

“Good. There's only so much jerks I can handle in a day” I stated, causing a string of laughter to move round the group.
It made me crack a smile.

“I'll be taking my leave now” I announced, before making my way out of there.

They all bowed in respect and I tried my best to act like I was used to it, smiling in response.

John personally escorted me out.
He was in the middle of promising me that Austin would receive proper punishment when I cut him off.

“No. It's fine. Let him be. Focus on making sure those two get the punishment they deserve. That's all I ask” I said and he paused before he nodded sharply.

“I will make sure of it, ma'am” he assured me and I sighed.

“Good. I'm going to try to trust you” I said as we approached the car.
The driver was already at the door, waiting.

We said our goodbyes and I was on my way back home in no time.

I called Alex and he picked up on the first ring.

“How did it go?” he asked and I smiled sadly.

“We have them” I said and a breath of relief escaped his lips.

“Thank you so much,” he said, and I smiled.

“You shouldn't thank me for something like this,” I said.

“Why shouldn't I? I should” he argued and I giggled lightly.

“Because we're partners and things like this should come naturally” I said and I could almost see his smile through the phone.

“You're right,” he agreed.

We spoke a little more as I filled him in about how everything went down, purposely avoiding the part about Austin. He would genuinely lose his shit and put him in his place and I honestly didn't want that.
I handled the situation, so there was no need for any added drama.

After the phone call, my mind wandered back to the way everything went down and the things Sabrina said.

I couldn't even imagine how Stella must have struggled. The fact that she could have survived and no one helped her. They just watched her as she slowly bled out, till she took her last breath.

My heart clenched in my chest as I forced myself to breathe.
If I never showed up in her life, she would still be alive.
I dragged my baggage along and she lost her life because of that.

I felt responsible for the whole thing. Like it could have been avoided. I wondered if Alex also thought the same.

“It's not your fault. You didn't make those horrible choices for Sabrina. Don't blame yourself” Hera said and I sighed.

She hated the feeling of guilt above all.

I tried to pry it off my mind and ended up playing some games to distract my mind till we got home.