The weight of the truth pressed down on Isabelle like an iron chain. She never expected the past she had buried to resurface in the most sinister way.
She stood frozen in Julian’s study, the old journal clutched in her hands. Her heart pounded as she read the final, gut-wrenching pages. Julian entered, sensing her distress.
“I know who killed your wife,” she
whispered.
Julian’s breath hitched.
“Who?”
Her lips trembled as she said the name. “Nathan Carter.”
Julian’s eyes darkened with confusion, then horror. Nathan Carter-Isabelle’s ex-boyfriend. The man who had once shattered her heart.
She took a shaky breath. “He didn’t just cheat on me, Julian. The woman he had the affair with….was your wife.”
Julian staggered back as if the room had lost all its air.
Nathan had seduced Julian’s wife in
secret, but when she tried to end it, he turned to blackmail. He had threatened to expose everything to Julian, using their affair as leverage. But Julian’s wife had been planning to tell the truth anyway-to break free from the manipulation.
And that’s why Nathan killed her.
On the night of the murder, Julian’s wife had tried to escape to the greenhouse-where she had hidden a letter confessing everything. But Nathan had followed her, desperate to silence her.
Max had witnessed it all.
Nathan knew that as long as Max lived, the truth wasn’t buried. So, he had the dog kidnapped, ensuring his secret remained safe. And he had done more than that-he had spent years feeding Julian the idea that his wife’s death was a tragic accident.
Isabelle turned to Julian, her voice
shaking. “He manipulated both of us. He made me believe I wasn’t enough, and he made you believe you were the killer.”
A bitter silence filled the room, until-a slow clap echoed through the air.
“Bravo, Isabelle. I always knew you were smart,” a voice drawled.
Nathan stood at the doorway, a sinister smirk on his face, a gun in his hand.
Julian’s jaw clenched. “You destroyed my life.”
Nathan sighed dramatically. “No, Julian. Your wife destroyed her own life the moment she thought she could betray me.
His finger hovered over the trigger.
Then, a deep, guttural growl.
Max.
The dog lunged at Nathan, his sharp
teeth sinking into his arm. The gun fired-a deafening blast–before Nathan fell to the ground, howling in pain.
Julian wasted no time. He grabbed the gun, his chest rising and falling with fury. He could end it right here. Right now.
But Isabelle placed her hand over his. “No. He won’t get away this time. Let the law handle him.”
Nathan’s reign of manipulation was over.
But could Julian and Isabelle ever
escape the ghosts he had left behind?
