“Is my grandmother still alive?” she whispered
Hayes nodded. “She woke up this morning. And she says your parents tried to poison her.”
Emma froze.
Her grandmother, Evelyn Whitaker, had been in a coma for weeks. Richard and Marlene had claimed it was a drug overdose. But Evelyn told the police that Richard had forced her to change her will and that, when she refused, Marlene had started tampering with her medication.
“She also said she warned her lawyer that your parents might try to frame you,” Hayes added.
He showed Emma evidence: the CCTV footage her parents had given to the police had been altered. The original video showed Marlene wearing Emma’s hoodie taking money from the safe in Richard’s office. Bank statements proved that Richard had transferred the money into his company account the next day.
“They dressed like me…” Emma murmured.
“Yes,” Hayes replied calmly.
That afternoon, Emma was released from prison and taken to the hospital. As soon as she saw Evelyn awake in her bed, she burst into tears.
“You survived them,” Evelyn murmured, taking his hand.
Evelyn’s lawyer, Charles Benton, explained that the inheritance was protected by a trust fund to which Richard and Marlene could never have access.
“But they still tried,” Evelyn said coldly.
Then she revealed something shocking: months earlier, she had secretly hidden evidence in a safe, fearing her son’s greed.
When the police opened the safe, they found recordings, receipts, and handwritten notes.
In a recording, Richard could be heard saying, “Once Emma is arrested, no one will believe her.”
On another, Marlene could be heard laughing softly. “Poor little princess.”
Emma sat in silence, tears streaming down her cheeks, listening to her parents destroy her life with their own words.
