Page 175 of Broken Destiny

I stared at the screen, absorbing the information.

My jaw set hard as new questions began to rise in my mind, circling relentlessly as I tried to make sense of everything I had just learned. I could not understand why this information had been kept from her, why it had never been shared with me, or what had truly happened after the accident.

I closed my eyes briefly and drew in a slow breath.

I opened my eyes, and my gaze drifted back to the folder sitting on the desk beside the laptop, heavy with secrets that had been hidden from me for years.

With trembling fingers, I opened it again.

There were two sets of pictures of Caroline and me.

I stared at them, my eyes scanning every detail, searching for differences—anything that didn’t belong.

At first, they looked identical, but then I noticed it.

The date stamps.

They were different.

A sick, nauseating feeling crawled up my throat.

What had my mother done?

My hands started to shake, the tremor spreading from my fingers to my arms, to my entire body. My stomach churned violently, bile rising in the back of my throat.

Then I saw it.

A handwritten note by Jiya.

I picked it up, my fingers brushing over the paper.

Eleanor,

Thanks, but no thanks. I never wanted your family’s money. Not before... not now... Never!

Nyah

This was what she had written… what she had placed on the bags.

My stomach dropped.

She had never taken the money.

She had never conspired with Jeremy.

The truth crashed into me, shattering everything I had believed.

I continued digging through the folder, my movements frantic now, desperate.

Papers slid across the desk as I searched for answers.

That’s when I found them.

Copies of the letter my mother had shown to everyone. The same letter I had kept in my wallet for almost four years. The letter that had poisoned my heart against the woman I loved.

Then, beneath it, I found the real one.

The actual letter.