Chapter 188 The Final Stab
Rain poured steadily against the tall glass windows of Fred’s office. The city outside looked blurred and gray, every streetlight a trembling reflection in the wet streets.
Annabelle stood by the door, soaked from the rain, clutching a folder to her chest. Her hair clung to her face, and her eyes were red from crying, but her expression was cold now — too tired for more tears.
Fred looked up from his desk, startled. “Annabelle? What happened to you? You look—”
“Don’t,” she cut him off sharply. Her voice was hoarse, trembling beneath the weight of exhaustion and fury. “Just don’t.”
He frowned, slowly standing up. “What’s going on?”
Annabelle stepped forward, slamming the folder onto his desk. Papers spilled out — copies of emails, financial transfers, legal documents, everything she had gathered in her investigation. “This,” she said, her voice cracking. “This is what’s going on.”
Fred’s eyes moved over the pages. His brow furrowed. “Where did you get these?”
“I dug,” she said. “Far enough to see what was hidden. Victoria’s offshore accounts. The money trail that led straight to the people who framed my father. The same people you said you couldn’t trace.”
Fred swallowed hard. His hands shook slightly as he picked up one of the papers. “Annabelle—”
“You knew,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “Didn’t you?”
He froze. The silence between them grew heavy, broken only by the sound of the rain hitting the windows.
“You knew,” she repeated, louder this time. “You knew what Victoria and Carson did. You were my lawyer, Fred. My friend. You helped me build everything after he was taken from me. And all this time…” Her words trailed off as her throat tightened. “You were part of it.”
Fred’s lips parted, but no words came out. His face turned pale, and for the first time, Annabelle saw fear in his eyes. Not the kind of fear that comes from anger — but from guilt.
He sank slowly into his chair, rubbing a trembling hand over his face. “I didn’t have a choice,” he whispered.
Annabelle stared at him in disbelief. “You didn’t have a choice?” she echoed, her tone sharp. “You had a choice every single time you lied to me. Every time you told me there was no evidence. Every time you said my father’s case was hopeless.”
Fred’s shoulders slumped. His voice came out broken. “She threatened me.”
Annabelle blinked. “Who?”
“Victoria,” he said, his voice shaking. “She had everything on me. She knew things no one else should have known — my debts, the mistakes I made early in my career. And she had pictures. Documents that could’ve destroyed my life. My family’s life.”
Annabelle’s mouth opened, but no sound came.
“She said if I didn’t cooperate,” he continued, tears welling in his eyes, “she’d ruin me. She’d take everything. She even mentioned my sister’s name. I thought she was bluffing until she sent a picture of her walking home from school.”
Annabelle’s breath hitched.
“I was terrified,” Fred whispered. “She told me to make sure certain documents never saw the courtroom. She said I didn’t have to lie — just delay, misplace, overlook. She made it sound small, harmless. But it wasn’t.”
Annabelle took a step back, shaking her head. “You buried evidence,” she said quietly. “You helped them destroy my father.”
“I didn’t mean to—”
“You did,” she interrupted sharply. “You knew what they were doing, and you still went along with it. You let an innocent man rot in prison while you stood beside me in court pretending to fight for justice!”
Fred covered his face with both hands, his shoulders trembling. “I tried to fix it,” he said between sobs. “I tried later, but it was too late. Everything was already set in motion.”
Annabelle’s hands curled into fists. “You could’ve told me,” she said. “Even once. You could’ve told me when we started working together, when I trusted you, when I told you things I’ve never told anyone else.”
“I wanted to,” he said weakly. “Every time you talked about your father, I wanted to tell you. But Victoria still had power then. She could’ve ruined everything. And I…” He looked up at her, his eyes bloodshot. “I was a coward.”
Annabelle’s voice broke as she whispered, “You were my best friend, Fred.”
He flinched as if the words themselves struck him. “I know,” he whispered. “And that’s what hurts the most. You were the one good thing I had left. And I ruined it.”
Annabelle turned away, her chest rising and falling heavily. The room felt suffocating, the air too thick to breathe.
“You helped them,” she said, her voice flat now. “All of you. Every single person I trusted. My mother lied. Carson betrayed me. Victoria destroyed my family. And you…” She turned back to him, tears streaming down her face. “You finished the job.”
Fred stood suddenly, tears running freely down his cheeks. “Annabelle, please. I never wanted to hurt you. I thought I could protect everyone if I just stayed quiet. But when your father was sentenced, I—” He broke off, unable to finish.
Annabelle stared at him for a long time. The man before her wasn’t the confident, brilliant lawyer she once admired. He looked small now, broken, like a child caught in a terrible lie.
“You can’t fix this,” she said quietly. “Nothing you say will make it right.”
He nodded slowly, his voice trembling. “I know.”
Annabelle gathered the scattered papers from his desk, her hands shaking but determined. “Then I’ll do what you couldn’t,” she said. “I’ll finish it. I’ll expose every last one of them — including you.”
Fred’s voice cracked. “If you do that, they’ll come after you.”
She looked him straight in the eyes. “Let them.”
For a moment, neither of them spoke. The rain outside grew heavier, pounding against the glass like the sound of a thousand tiny hammers.
Fred wiped his face and whispered, “I’m sorry.”
Annabelle didn’t reply. She turned and walked toward the door, her wet shoes leaving faint marks on the marble floor.
As she reached the doorway, Fred’s voice followed her, faint and broken. “She said it was bigger than any of us,” he murmured. “That there were people behind her — people who’d never let the truth come out.”
Annabelle paused but didn’t turn around. “Then they haven’t met me,” she said softly.
She stepped into the hallway, the door clicking shut behind her. The sound echoed in the empty office like a final goodbye.
Outside, the rain soaked her again, but she didn’t care. Her heart was shattered, her trust gone, but her purpose had never been clearer.
Everyone she loved had betrayed her.
Now, she had nothing left to lose.