Chapter 152 Sending Rachel to Jail! (4)
Orla had never imagined that Rachel, the very woman ruthless enough to provoke Ryan into a breakdown and use his hands to kill Amelia, could turn around and accuse her of being the truly vicious one. The audacity was staggering. The sheer iron in her nerve was almost inhuman.
Amelia's gaze slid slowly toward Rachel, her eyes as cold as centuries-old ice. Her voice was low, each word sharp enough to cut.
"You say Orla framed you? Even if every step was her plan, if you hadn't spilled that drink on Ryan tonight, he wouldn't have gone upstairs. Without that, her plan would have died before it began."
"And tell me… why would she want to kill me? What has Ryan done to her that would make her risk murder? Or what have I done that would make her willing to stake her freedom just to see me dead?"
Rachel's reply came through clenched teeth, her tone brittle and fast, like glass under pressure.
"I told you—it was an accident! She only took advantage of it to push the blame onto me."
"If I hadn't spilled the drink, she could have done it herself and followed Ryan upstairs to do the rest. She says I ordered her… where's the proof?"
Her voice carried a confidence that bordered on arrogance. Rachel had made sure, when planning all of this, to avoid leaving any direct evidence. Anything that could be done without her hand, she left to someone else. She was certain—even if Orla recited every detail—there would be no hard proof to convict her.
Finishing her defense, she turned tearfully to Jenny, clutching her hand, trying to summon the familiar warmth of a mother's protection.
"Mom, you wouldn't believe the lies of a servant caught in her own crime over the word of the daughter you raised yourself, would you?"
"Ryan has always been good to me. How could I ever want to make him sick on purpose?"
"And even if Amelia and I have had our differences, I would never want her dead."
"Mom, Orla is poisonous. We should call the police right now and have her taken away. Living under the same roof with someone like her… it terrifies me."
Amelia drew in a slow breath. There were plenty of cruel and shameless people in the world, but to be cruel, shameless, and utterly self-assured at the same time… that was a rare breed.
Before Rachel's words had fully settled in the air, Orla lifted her head sharply, disbelief and fury flashing in her bloodshot eyes.
"Rachel! I did all of this for you, and not only do you refuse to help me, you want to have me arrested?!"
"You think I have no proof? How do you know I don't?"
She crawled forward a few steps, tears streaking through the dried blood on her face, turning to Kevin and Jenny with desperate urgency.
"I have a recording! When Rachel came to me with the plan, I recorded everything she said!"
What…?
Rachel's eyes went wide, the shock almost splitting her face.
Kevin's breathing grew heavier. He had already pieced together enough to know tonight was no accident. The only question left was who had truly pulled the strings.
"You have a recording?" His voice was low, tight.
"Yes, Mr. Kevin Martinez!" Orla's words tumbled out. "I knew it was a crime, and I was afraid she'd demand the money back afterward. So I kept a safeguard… I recorded her."
Her hands shook as she dug into her pocket, pulling out her phone. She was about to open the file when—
Rachel lunged forward, aiming to snatch the device from her grip.
"Shut up! You're framing me! You—"
She didn't make it. Tobias stepped in, catching her with a single hard shove that sent her crashing to the floor. Pain shot through her bones.
"You stay down."
Tobias's eyes were bloodshot, his chest rising and falling in ragged bursts. Anger burned so hot it threatened to consume his restraint. Tonight, Ryan had been driven into an episode, Zander had nearly bled out, and Amelia had almost been murdered in her sleep. If Rachel had truly orchestrated it, Tobias would not hesitate to end her himself.
From the phone's speaker, Rachel's voice spilled into the room—cold, deliberate, unmistakable.
"You just follow my instructions and nothing will be traceable. You'll be fine. Once it's done, the five hundred thousand is yours, and your son can study abroad without worry."
Then came the low, venomous grind of teeth. "That damn Amelia… that bitch… this time I'll make sure she dies. And Ryan—since he told the whole world Amelia is his sister, he can forget about being my brother."
The words cut through the air like a blade, leaving the truth naked and undeniable.
Rachel sat frozen on the floor, her shoulders trembling, lips drained of color.
"Kevin… Mom… Chris…"
"Don't call me Mom! You vile creature!"
Jenny's eyes were red as she stormed forward, her palm striking Rachel's face with a crack that echoed in the room. Her whole body shook with rage.
"From the moment you came into this house, I treated you like my own daughter. You had the best of everything—food, clothes, comfort. And how do you repay me?"
"You nearly killed one of my sons, and you drove another—who had fought so hard to recover—back into his illness!"
"Mom…"
Rachel knew it was over. There was no point in lies now. Her only hope was to soften Jenny's heart, to keep her from watching her be dragged into prison without mercy.
She covered her face, crawling toward Jenny, clutching at her clothes, sobbing.
"Mom, I know I was wrong! I really do!"
"I admit I acted without thinking… I never meant for the chandelier shards to hurt Zander. I know his health is fragile—how could I bear to harm him?"
"And Ryan… I only wanted him to kill Amelia while he was unaware, so he wouldn't face criminal charges."
"It was jealousy, I swear. Because on the day of the school celebration, Ryan went to Amelia and told everyone she was his sister. So I…"
"But I never wanted to hurt Ryan. I didn't know his episodes were that painful. I—"
"You never wanted to hurt Ryan?" Amelia's voice sliced in, colder than steel.
She pulled a small piece of oil paper from her pocket, its edges stained with faded powder—the scrap she had found at the bottom of the trash bin. It had once wrapped red lychee flower powder.
"The night before the school celebration… the person who told Orla to put red lychee flower powder in Ryan's juice… wasn't that you?"