home

search

Chapter 63

  “What…what happened?” Daphne asked in a soft voice.

  “I had just gotten home,” Rose said, pausing her walk, her eyes glazing over into a faraway look. “I went up the stairs to go visit my mother in her room, and saw my mother hanging from the ceiling, struggling to breathe.” Rose swallowed hard. “And Kimberly Woods was sitting at my mother’s desk with a smirk on her face as she wrote the letter that would look like my mother’s suicide note.”

  Daphne was paralyzed, her eyes huge as she was staring at Rose. Mother…killed her former friend? The person she aspired to be? Her gardening rival? The sound of shattering glass echoed in Daphne’s memory, as she recalled her mother throwing vases at her. The memory contorted, and Daphne heard the twang of the dinner knife Kimberly had thrown into the wall where Maggie had been standing only moments earlier at the recent Thanksgiving get together.

  Daphne’s stomach tightened. I should have known that Mother would have been involved in Vivian’s death, rather than having driven her to suicide. It’s just not something I could actually imagine Mother doing...even though I’ve always known…somewhere…deep in my heart…that my mother was capable of such things.

  “How…how did you make it out of that situation?” Daphne asked, focusing her attention back on Rose. “Why didn’t you call the police? Why hide it all of these years?”

  Rose snorted and then began her pacing again. “I was lucky I didn’t get caught,” she admitted, scoffing. “I hid in my bedroom, thinking I might be able to save my mother when Kimberly left. It was a foolish decision. If there is anything Kimberly Woods is, it’s thorough. I was too late.”

  “So, you kept the suicide letter then?” Daphne asked. “Why not take it to the police?”

  Rose spat at the floor. “What a foolish question,” she murmured behind Daphne. “Because of the contents of the letter, of course. Your mother worked quite hard to ensure the handwriting she used was identical to my mother’s. No one was going to believe what I saw. There was no evidence or proof. I knew I’d have to find another way to get my revenge.”

  “What did the letter say?” Daphne whispered.

  “It said exactly what you’d expect,” Rose replied sarcastically. “That my mother was driven to suicide because she was losing contests. That she found out that her husband had a child with someone who was her rival, someone who was once her beloved friend. That she knew she and her husband were inevitably going to divorce. That she regretted stealing Ethan Hawthorne from Kimberly Woods in the first place.”

  Rose shook her head, her lips pulled back in a look of disgust. “Pah! Who would have believed me that Kimberly Woods killed her? All of those things were true and may have been enough to drive someone to suicide. Not my mother, though. My mother had so much more to live for than just her garden and her husband.”

  Daphne gulped. “The police could have at least confirmed those facts, though,” she protested. “Then at least my father wouldn’t have had to suffer under my mother for two more years.” Daphne’s eyes stung, and her vision got blurry.

  “And what about my father?” Rose shot back. “He would have gotten married to the psycho who killed my mother. I already know that Kimberly was trying to suck him dry of all of his money like the varmint leech that she is. If she had been married to him, it would have been so much easier for her to do. No, if that letter had seen the light of day, it would have been far worse for everyone involved. That was what Kimberly wanted.”

  “Do you think your father would have defended her?” Daphne asked.

  Rose let out a vicious laugh. “Of course he would have,” she grumbled. “At that point, he was so head over heels for Kimberly Woods that he would have ensured that Kimberly wouldn’t have had to suffer, and he had all of the money in the world to have done it.”

  “So was your plan to kill me to get your revenge on my mother?” Daphne asked. She was starting to twist her wrists around in the rope again. The bleeding from earlier had finally fully stopped.

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  Rose stopped pacing, and walked over to the kitchen knife, picking it up and studying its blade. “How did you guess?” Rose asked, her voice dripping with venom. She narrowed her eyes at Daphne.

  Daphne involuntarily shivered a little. Am I in danger again? She pursed her lips, studying Rose closely. No, stay calm. Daphne forced her emotions down, trying to stay rational. Rose said she’d consider making a deal with me. For Asher’s sake.

  Daphne shook her head. “That was a na?ve approach,” she scolded Rose.

  Rose looked taken aback, before her features narrowed again. She looked down at the knife, holding it tighter in her hand.

  “Let me explain at least,” Daphne said, as butterflies started flapping wildly in her stomach.

  Rose grimaced but lowered the knife to her side. “Go on,” she prompted Daphne.

  “Surely you must know that there are more kids in my family than just me.”

  “Of course I know that,” Rose snapped.

  “In that case, the child you should have gone after to get revenge on my mother should have been Cypress, my eldest brother. Cy is my mother’s favorite.”

  Rose scowled. “You’re lying. A mother could never play favorites like that.”

  “I promise I’m not,” Daphne answered.

  Rose darted behind Daphne, holding the knife loosely against her throat. Daphne felt her heart jump into her chest. She could very easily end my life right now. Daphne’s heart began to pick up in pace.

  “Then, let’s make a deal like I suggested earlier,” Rose muttered.

  “A deal?” Daphne asked, feeling her flesh just barely touching the edge of the knife as she spoke.

  “A deal,” Rose confirmed. “You’re mostly correct that I went after you primarily to get my revenge on your mother. You also stole Landon from me, but that’s not enough to kill you over. Don’t think I’ll ever forgive you for it, though.”

  Daphne swallowed hard. Now isn’t the time to argue with her.

  “So, what’s the deal?”

  “It’s either you, or your mother,” Rose replied. “Either I kill you here now, or you help me put your mother in prison. Either way, someone in the Woods family has to pay the price.”

  The choice is so obvious. Of course I value my own life so much more than my mother’s. Especially now that I’m happy and I have so much more to live for. I also know what my mother is fully capable of. She is not someone who should be free to do what she pleases. She certainly shouldn’t be running charities.

  Daphne pressed her lips together. What would I have chosen the first time on that cold, wintery December twenty-third if Rose had given me the choice? Would I still have chosen to save my own life? Or would I have chosen to save my mother’s, thinking that I was doing my siblings a favor? She let out a short breath of air. Regardless of what I would have chosen, I doubt my mother would have given two shifts that I died. That one of her children had been murdered. No, she would have used that as a way to advertise her charity and look good to the public.

  I’ve changed. I’m happy.

  “I’m waiting!” Rose exclaimed loudly in Daphne’s ear, digging the knife into Daphne’s skin a bit. Daphne winced, feeling the knife’s prick, and the trickle of blood running down her neck towards her shirt.

  “I’ll help you turn my mother in,” Daphne answered firmly.

  “What?” Rose asked, her voice shrill. The knife retreated from Daphne’s neck. “You’d betray your own mother to keep your own life?”

  “Of course I will,” Daphne replied with a little smirk on her face. “No one knows what she’s capable of more than me.”

  Rose came around into Daphne’s vision, studying Daphne skeptically. “Alright. Let’s go to the police station then.” She paused for a moment. “You can’t take this back. You know that right?”

  “I know,” Daphne replied with a half-smile.

  ~

  “You’re at the police station with Rose?” Asher’s flabbergasted voice said in Daphne’s ear.

  “It’s a long story, too long for me to tell you over the phone,” Daphne murmured as she glanced over at Rose who was sitting across from a police officer. “I was hoping that you might be able to come pick me up shortly.”

  “I’m a little nervous about this,” Asher said, chuckling anxiously. “Why would you be at the police station with the person who has been stalking you?”

  “Now really isn’t a good time for me to explain this,” Daphne replied sharply. “We can talk once you’re here, okay?”

  “Um, okay,” Asher answered. “I can be there in about twenty minutes or so.”

  “Perfect,” Daphne replied. “See you then.” She hung up the phone and opened her text messages to Asher.

  Please don’t worry. We are talking to the police now, and I will fill you in with everything when I am not within earshot of Rose.

  Gotcha, Asher replied as Daphne sat down in the chair next to Rose. Daphne tucked her phone into her coat pocket, pulling it tightly around herself, to ensure that her injuries were covered.

  I have to get through my end of the deal with Rose before I decide what to do about the kidnapping.

  Daphne looked up at the police officer who was staring at Rose incredulously. In his hands, he held the letter that Rose claimed that Kimberly had written instead of Vivian. “So let me get this straight,” the officer said. “You’re trying to convince me that you hid your mother’s suicide letter and the fact that she was murdered for four years?”

Recommended Popular Novels