Chapter 211 She's the Killer
At ten o'clock sharp, the press conference officially began.
Emily stood on stage wearing a perfectly tailored white suit, her voice carrying clearly across the room, "Thank you to all the media representatives and influencers for attending today's press conference. I've called this gathering to clarify two crucial matters: first, I had absolutely nothing to do with Erica's death; second, to expose the real perpetrator who hired an assassin to harm me in an attempt to frame me."
The moment she finished speaking, the audience erupted in shocked murmurs.
Lauren immediately shot to her feet, pointing an accusatory finger at Emily and screaming, "You liar! You killed Erica! Who are you trying to pin this on now?"
Lucy joined in, shouting, "Exactly! You obviously can't find any evidence, so you're just looking for some random scapegoat! I'm telling you right now—we're not buying any of this!"
Seeing the commotion, reporters immediately raised their cameras, snapping photos of Emily and the Johnson family members. The scene briefly descended into chaos.
Emily remained completely unruffled, calmly observing Lauren and Lucy with an even tone, "Whether I'm lying or not, whether I hired someone to commit violence—I'll let the evidence speak for itself. But first, I'd like everyone to watch a video."
She nodded to her assistant, who began playing footage on the large screen.
The monitor immediately displayed surveillance footage from the day of the attack in Windsor Group's underground parking garage. The video showed the attacker rushing at Emily with a knife, Charles protecting her and getting his arm slashed in the process, and finally the security team subduing the perpetrator, followed by his interrogation.
When the video ended, Emily continued, "According to the attacker's confession, the person who hired him was a woman approximately 5'7" tall who disguised her voice and deliberately covered herself up. Through surveillance investigation, we discovered that the day before the attack, Celeste appeared in the exact secluded alley the attacker described, and her height and build match his description perfectly."
She signaled her assistant again, who played another surveillance clip. The footage showed Celeste wearing a hat and mask, emerging from a narrow alley while carrying a black bag—perfectly matching both the meeting location and appearance the attacker had described.
Sitting in the audience, Celeste's face turned deathly pale as she watched the surveillance footage, her body trembling uncontrollably. She never imagined that despite all her precautions, she'd still been caught on camera.
Emily's gaze shifted directly to Celeste. "Celeste, do you have any explanation for this?"
Celeste opened her mouth to protest, but couldn't form a single word.
Lauren and Declan, who were in on the plan, had instructed Celeste to hire the attacker, hoping to force Emily into a confession. Of course, under these circumstances, they would never admit their involvement. Lauren muttered under her breath, "Nobody even died anyway. What's wrong with waving a knife around? This wouldn't have happened if Emily had just confessed in the first place!"
"Emily, stop trying to change the subject! Whatever Celeste did, what does that have to do with Erica's death?"
"It has everything to do with it. Police also discovered that on the day Erica died, she had an altercation with Celeste in Celeste's apartment. Although Celeste cleaned up the blood evidence, Luminol testing can easily detect any remaining traces. Celeste, that's common knowledge—surely you knew that?"
Celeste felt like dying. Of course, she didn't know about any damn chemical tests.
She thought she'd cleaned everything up!
How could there still be traces left behind!
No wonder when the police searched her apartment a few days ago, they gave her such strange looks before leaving. Had they already suspected her of being the killer back then?
But instead of fleeing, she'd just waited around like an idiot for the police results!
She was such a fool!
"Furthermore, Erica's phone contained intimate photos of you and Declan. Presumably, you were afraid Erica would expose this affair, which is why you murdered her, then tried to frame me to divert police attention."
At these words, the entire Johnson family was completely stunned. Simon's head snapped up, his eyes boring into Celeste and Declan, his fingers clenched so tightly they turned white.
He couldn't believe his own wife had been sleeping with his own brother!
Lucy stood frozen like she'd been struck by lightning, mumbling, "Impossible. How could Dad be with... with Celeste..."
She'd always thought Celeste was a good person. Even after her mother died, she'd believed Celeste would help her get revenge. Only now did she realize this woman had not only killed her mother but was also having an affair with Declan!
Clara, hiding in the back row, was equally shocked by this revelation.
After she and Celeste had been thrown out of the Johnson family, they'd had occasional opportunities to return when her father felt guilty, but most of the time she still lived with Celeste outside the Johnson Villa.
Celeste was often away, claiming she had business to attend to. Clara had assumed Celeste was out paving the way for their return, building connections, but she never imagined she was out fooling around with someone else!
How could she do this to her?
Her own mother now bore this kind of shame, and Clara would never be able to hold her head up in Emerald City again!
Emily didn't give them much time to process this information, signaling to her assistant, "Project the blood evidence analysis and photos on the big screen."
Soon, the large screen displayed luminescent photos from the Luminol testing, along with clear images of Celeste and Declan together in hotels and alleys—each photo crystal clear and damning.
With iron-clad evidence before them, the reporters below exploded into chaos, pushing toward the front to photograph and question Celeste and Declan.
"Mrs. Celeste Johnson, is what Emily said true? Did you really kill Erica and have an affair with Declan?"
"Mr. Declan Johnson, knowing that Celeste was Simon's wife, why did you still get involved with her? Did Mrs. Erica Johnson know about this?"
"Did you two plan all of this to eliminate Mrs. Erica Johnson?"
Camera flashes strobed continuously as questions crashed over them like waves.
Celeste completely broke down. She tried to stand and run, but plainclothes police officers already stationed at the venue blocked her path, cold handcuffs snapping around her wrists.
"No! It wasn't me! Emily's framing me! She set me up!" she shrieked, her voice hoarse, but no one believed her. The evidence was right there—no amount of protests could change that.
As the plainclothes officers began escorting Celeste toward the exit, Emily suddenly spoke up, "Wait a moment."
All eyes immediately focused on her, and even the struggling Celeste stopped moving. What other cards did Emily have left to play?
"I'm not finished yet. Celeste, do you think admitting to murder and confessing your affair with Declan covers everything? There's still one more thing—aren't you forgetting to tell everyone something else?"
Celeste's body trembled uncontrollably, her lips quivering as she found herself unable to speak. Emily didn't wait for her response, turning to her assistant, "Project that paternity test report."