“STOP HER!” Adrian shouted.
But the security guards hesitated. Nobody had ever heard Adrian Moreau scream before.
Lily stood frozen beside the bench, shaking.
Adrian looked down at her, stunned. His voice became almost a whisper.
“You’re… my daughter?”
Before Lily could answer, a loud voice came from the trees.
“She’s telling the truth.”
A young man stepped out holding a phone.
It was Daniel — a former journalist everyone believed had disappeared two years earlier while investigating Adrian’s company.
Vanessa stopped dead near the mansion stairs.
Daniel raised the phone slightly. “I recorded everything.”
Vanessa’s face twisted with panic. “You don’t understand—”
“No,” Daniel interrupted coldly. “You poisoned him slowly for years. Small doses. Enough to weaken him. Enough to control him.”
Adrian looked sick.
Vanessa’s eyes filled with tears. “I did it because I loved you!”
“You murdered Elena,” Daniel said.
Silence.
Lily grabbed Adrian’s hand tightly.
Vanessa realized too late what she had done.
Adrian stared at his wife in horror. “Tell me he’s lying.”
Vanessa’s breathing became uneven.
Then, very softly, she said:
“She found out about Lily.”
Adrian stepped backward like the ground disappeared beneath him.
Vanessa started crying harder now.
“Elena was going to take you away from me.”
Lily buried her face against Adrian’s arm.
Police sirens suddenly echoed in the distance.
Vanessa looked toward the gates.
Then she smiled.
Not a sad smile.
A terrifying one.
“You still don’t understand,” she whispered.
Daniel frowned. “What are you talking about?”
Vanessa slowly pointed toward Lily.
“She’s not the only child Elena had.”
