Chapter 23: The Confession They Couldn't Bury

We reached the police station just before midnight.

My father's company had already been placed under investigation.

The financial records gave the detectives enough reason to question everyone involved.

But I knew the money trail wasn't the whole story.

I wanted the truth about my first death.

Jack stayed beside me while Corbin spoke with the investigators.

Emma sat across the room, staring at the floor.

For once, none of us knew what to say.

Then an officer approached me with a sealed evidence bag.

"Ms. Ellis, we recovered this from your father's office."

Inside was a small silver key.

I recognized it immediately.

It belonged to the private cabinet in my father's study.

"He kept this hidden from everyone," I said.

The officer nodded.

"We found the cabinet behind a false wall."

My heart began pounding.

The detective opened a folder.

"There are records of payments to the clinic, the doctor who signed your psychiatric evaluation, and the transportation company that moved you after you were sedated."

I stared at the papers.

Every detail of the night I died had been recorded.

My father hadn't simply planned my death.

He had documented it like a business transaction.

Then the detective placed one final document in front of me.

"There's something you should see."

It was a handwritten letter.

The handwriting belonged to Emma.

I unfolded it with trembling fingers.

The letter had been written shortly before her death in my previous life.

I read the first line.

"Esme, if you ever find this, I need you to know that I was wrong."

My vision blurred.

Emma had written that she regretted believing our parents.

She admitted that she had helped them create the false psychiatric story.

But she claimed she hadn't known they intended to kill me.

Then came the part that changed everything.

"Corbin's mother threatened me after I discovered what they had done."

"She told me that if I exposed them, Corbin would lose everything."

"I was afraid."

"I thought if I stayed quiet, they would leave Esme alone."

"I was wrong."

The letter ended with a single sentence.

"I hope she gets another chance to live without us."

I slowly lowered the paper.

Emma was crying silently across the room.

"You knew?" I asked.

"Not everything," she whispered.

"But I knew enough to be ashamed."

I looked at her for a long time.

In my previous life, I had died believing my sister hated me.

Now I realized she had been trapped inside the same poisonous family I had spent years trying to escape.

That didn't erase what she had done.

But it changed the way I understood it.

The detective cleared his throat.

"There's one more development."

He turned toward Corbin.

"Your father's been arrested."

Corbin looked up sharply.

"Where?"

"At the private airport."

A strange silence filled the room.

"He was trying to leave the country."

I stood.

"I want to see him."

Jack immediately looked concerned.

"Esme—"

"I need to hear it from him."

The detective hesitated, then nodded.

"You can speak to him through the interview room."

Twenty minutes later, my father walked into the room wearing handcuffs.

He looked older than I remembered.

He sat across from me.

For several seconds, neither of us spoke.

Then I asked the question I'd carried since my rebirth.

"Why did you kill me?"

My father lowered his eyes.

"Because you wouldn't give Emma what she wanted."

My chest tightened.

"That's not an answer."

"Your grandmother's inheritance was going to you. The Sinclair family wanted control of certain assets. Emma was supposed to marry into that arrangement."

"You became an obstacle."

I stared at him.

"So I was worth less to you than money?"

He didn't answer.

That silence was answer enough.

Then he said something unexpected.

"I regretted it."

I laughed bitterly.

"You regretted it after you killed me?"

"I regretted it when I realized Emma would never forgive herself."

My expression hardened.

"You still don't understand."

"This wasn't about Emma."

"It was about you choosing to destroy your own daughter."

My father looked away.

I stood up.

"I don't forgive you."

His shoulders dropped.

"I know."

I walked out without looking back.

Outside the room, Jack was waiting.

He didn't ask what my father had said.

He simply took my hand.

"Are you ready to leave?"

I nodded.

"Yes."

As we stepped outside, dawn was beginning to break over the city.

For the first time, New York didn't feel like a prison.

It felt like somewhere I was finally free to leave.

I looked down at the aquamarine ring.

The stone caught the first light of morning.

In my first life, I had chosen a marriage because everyone told me it was the right choice.

This time, I had chosen a different life.

And I had chosen it for myself.