Chapter 10 - The Offer
Emma asked Detective Ramirez to tell Michael that the recording was unrecoverable.
Then she requested to speak with him.
Daniel objected immediately.
“No.”
“He thinks I’m weak.”
“You are injured.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
The detective approved the conversation under surveillance. Michael entered without his coat or belt. His confidence returned the moment he saw Emma lying pale beneath hospital blankets.
He sat beside her.
“Thank God you’re alive.”
Emma looked at him without expression.
Michael reached for her hand.
She pulled it away.
His eyes hardened briefly before softening again.
“You’re confused. The fall—”
“You pushed me.”
“No. I tried to save you.”
“You peeled my fingers off.”
Michael glanced toward the camera in the corner.
Then he leaned closer.
“You’re traumatized. People will understand if your memory is unreliable.”
Emma felt no fear now.
Only disgust.
“The recording is gone,” she said.
Michael’s shoulders relaxed almost invisibly.
“But Daniel knows about the trust.”
At the sound of Daniel’s name, Michael’s jaw tightened.
“He’s manipulating you.”
“Then tell me the truth.”
Michael lowered his voice.
“Your so-called family abandoned you. My mother’s family protected Northstar for decades. Without us, there would be no company.”
“You tried to kill me for it.”
“I tried to stop you from destroying our child’s future.”
“Our child?”
Michael smiled.
“If you cooperate, we can still fix this.”
Emma stared at him.
“What do you want?”
“Sign temporary control of the trust to me. Tell police you slipped. We go home, have our baby, and put this behind us.”
“And if I refuse?”
His expression became empty.
“Then everyone learns your child may not survive because his mother was reckless enough to climb near a restricted overlook.”
Emma’s nails pressed into her palm.
Michael continued.
“You’ll be declared unstable. I’ll get custody. Daniel will disappear into court battles. Either way, I control the trust.”
He believed he had won.
He did not know every word was being recorded through the hospital surveillance system.
Emma allowed her voice to tremble.
“Your mother planned this?”
Michael smirked.
“She planned everything.”
Behind the observation glass, Evelyn suddenly stood.
She realized what her son had admitted.
Michael followed Emma’s gaze.
His face collapsed.
The door opened.
Detective Ramirez entered.
“You’re under arrest.”
Michael lunged toward Emma—not to harm her, but to rip the call button from the bed.
Daniel reached him first and pinned him against the wall.
No shouting.
No unnecessary force.
Just absolute control.
As officers dragged Michael away, he screamed at his mother.
“You told me the room was clean!”
May you like
Evelyn turned and ran.
👉 Michael had confessed—but Evelyn Whitmore still carried the stolen box containing Rebecca’s final secret.
