Chapter 5 - Unraveling the PastThe police officers moved with practiced efficiency, stepping past Victor and pinning Serena’s arms behind her back, snapping the steel handcuffs around her wrists with a sharp, echoing click.
"You can't do this!" Serena shrieked, thrashing against the officers as they dragged her backward out of the studio and down the dark hallway. "Victor! She's lying to you too! Elena didn't fall! Ask him! Ask Julian what happened the night Elena died!"
Her frantic screams echoed down the corridor, slowly fading away as the officers escorted her out toward the waiting patrol cars parked in the front courtyard.
In the sealed studio, the silence returned, heavier and more profound than before.
Victor stood motionless near the center of the room, his eyes fixed on Julian. The amber emergency lights cast long, dramatic shadows across the dusty art supplies and the reel-to-reel tape machine, which had finally finished its loop and clicked off.
"What did she mean, Julian?" Victor asked, his voice shaking. "What did Serena mean when she yelled about how Elena died?"
Julian didn't answer immediately. He walked slowly over to the desk, picked up the discarded leather journal, and tossed it into the metal wastebasket. Then, he turned to face his brother-in-law, his eyes heavy with years of buried guilt.
"Serena was a parasite, Victor, but on that one point... she wasn't entirely wrong," Julian said softly, looking down at the floor.
Lily held her breath, keeping little Ethan hidden behind the armchair, realizing she had stumbled into a tragedy far deeper than a simple kidnapping plot or a gold-digger's scheme.
"What are you talking about?" Victor demanded, stepping forward and grabbing Julian by the lapels of his suit jacket. "Tell me the truth, right now!"
"Elena didn't fall down the stairs by accident, Victor," Julian confessed, his voice breaking as tears welled up in his eyes. "She found out that your business partners were using the shipping conglomerate to launder cartel money. She threatened to go to the federal authorities. I tried to stop her... I tried to convince her to stay quiet to protect the family name."
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Victor’s hands slowly slipped from Julian’s jacket. He staggered backward, his face twisting in horror. "You... you pushed her?"
"No!" Julian cried, shaking his head. "I never laid a hand on her! But... I didn't help her either. When she ran down these very stairs trying to reach the landline to call the police... I stood at the landing and watched her miss her footing in the dark. I didn't call the ambulance until it was too late. I let her die to protect the fortune. And Serena found out about it six months ago, using it to blackmail me into helping her steal the trust."
