Chapter 9 - The Betrayal Inside Kingsley
The name on the file was Margaret Hale.
My childhood nanny.
The woman who made my lunches.
The woman who held me when my parents fought.
The woman who cried when I graduated.
I refused to believe it.
“No.”
Daniel looked at me.
“Mara.”
“She wouldn’t.”
My mother looked away.
That hurt more than anything.
Because she knew.
“You knew?”
My mother whispered:
“I suspected.”
The betrayal felt personal.
Margaret wasn’t an employee.
She was family.
I found her that evening.
She didn’t run.
That surprised me.
She sat in the old Kingsley garden.
Waiting.
“You know.”
It wasn’t a question.
I looked at her.
“Why?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“I didn’t want it to happen this way.”
“Then why did you do it?”
She looked down.
“Because your father ruined my family.”
The answer shocked me.
“What?”
“My son lost everything because of a Kingsley decision.”
I shook my head.
“So you helped destroy mine?”
“No.”
She cried.
“I thought I was only helping expose the truth.”
“Grant?”
“He lied to me.”
I stared.
“What did he tell you?”
“That he wanted justice.”
A bitter laugh escaped me.
“He wanted Ellie.”
Margaret looked terrified.
“What?”
I stepped closer.
“You didn’t know.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
For the first time…
I saw another victim.
Not an enemy.
A victim.
Then she whispered:
“Mara.”
“What?”
“Grant isn’t the only one.”
A pause.
“There’s someone above him.”
My expression changed.
“Who?”
Margaret looked toward the mansion.
“The person who has controlled him from the beginning.”
My phone buzzed.
A message.
Unknown number.
A photograph.
Grant.
Vanessa.
And a third person.
A person standing behind them.
The caption said:
THE REAL OWNER OF BLUEBIRD.
I opened the image.
And my hands went cold.
May you like
Because the person in the photo…
Was me.
