13
“Ashley, your grandma’s gone. The
agreement…”
Dad held out the contract, telling me to sign.
L
Mom suddenly grabbed my hand, shaking her
head hard.
“Don’t sign it, Ashley. We won’t sign it. What
your grandma left for you is yours.”
“That’s enough!” Dad tried to reason with
Mom. “It’s not a big deal. We can give her
more later. All these years have gone by,
what’s the point of saying all this now?”
Everyone waited anxiously for my response.
At the last moment, the old butler, whom I
hadn’t seen in so long, arrived with all the
evidence from over the years.
<
He stood in front of me, pushing everyone
else out. The people behind him were from
the Serious Crimes Unit.
The butler had been working for Grandma all
along.
He hadn’t told her what happened, afraid it
would kill her.
For six years in the slums, Amy had cut off all
the money the Smiths were sending me.
She’d secretly used the Smith family name to
send money to the mercenaries, telling them
they could do whatever they wanted, as long
as I didn’t die!
“It’s all you! You’re the cause of all this! You
ruined my daughter! May you rot in hell!” .
She broke down, losing control.
“Why? The Smiths have been good to you.
We gave you everything you wanted. Why did
you have to hurt my daughter?”
This time, no one tried to stop her.
The butler shook his head and sighed.
“What a tragedy. You did something awful,
why make little Ashley suffer for it! Mr. and
Mrs. Smith, even I, an old man with no blood
relation to her, feel pain. Where are your
く
hearts?”
The detective handed a report to everyone.
Amy’s original name was Amy Wilson.
When she was eight years old, her parents
had an unhappy marriage. Her real father was
a fugitive murderer. She didn’t want to live
that life, so one night she poisoned their
food.
Jake stared, taking a step back.
“I didn’t kill anyone! I didn’t kill anyone!”
Mom and Dad also froze.
