Chapter 2 – Thirty Years of Lies
Police officers entered before anyone could leave.
Preston tried to laugh.
"It was a joke."
No one believed him.
While officers questioned witnesses, Detective Maria Alvarez quietly asked me,
"Has your brother done anything like this before?"
I didn't answer immediately.
Instead, I looked at my parents.
Memories I'd buried for decades came rushing back.
The broken vase blamed on me when Preston threw a baseball through the living room window.
The missing cash Dad insisted I had stolen, only to discover years later that Preston had gambled it away.
The scholarship money my parents "borrowed" from my college fund to pay Preston's debts.
The family business internship I lost because Preston "needed confidence."
Every time...
I apologized.
Every time...
He was protected.
Detective Alvarez seemed to read my face.
"This wasn't the first lie."
"No," I whispered.
"It was just the first one recorded."
Meanwhile, Madison slowly removed her wedding ring.
She looked directly at Preston.
"You lied to me too."
He reached for her hand.
She stepped away.
May you like
"I almost married a man who attacked a child."
Then she quietly placed the ring on the wedding cake table and walked out of the ballroom without looking back.
