The Billionaire Ex-Wife's Return (Cynthia and Ethan) novel Chapter 56

Cynthia’s POV

“Why?” I whispered, more to myself than to Felicia. “Why would he do this?”

Felicia shook her head miserably. “I don’t know, madame. I’m so sorry. I should have come to you, should have told you what was happening, but I was so scared…”

“It’s okay,” I said automatically, though nothing was okay. “You did the right thing in the end. You removed the evidence.”

“But it didn’t matter,” she sobbed. “Someone else put more in. And now the restaurant is ruined and it’s all my fault…”

“It’s not your fault.” I placed a hand on her shoulder. “You were manipulated. Threatened. The fault lies with whoever orchestrated this.”

I pulled out my own phone and called Nathaniel.

“Cici? Did you find something?”

“Pierre,” I said, my voice hollow. “It was Pierre. I have proof.”

There was a long pause. “Pierre? Your manager Pierre?”

“Yes. I need police. I need them to bring him in for questioning.”

“I’ll make some calls. Where are you?”

I gave him the address and hung up.

Within the hour, Nathaniel had arranged for officers to pick up Pierre from his apartment. I went with them, needing to see his face when he was confronted with the evidence.

*

“Madame Cynclair,” Pierre said when he saw me, “please, you have to believe me. I didn’t do this. I would never…”

“I have evidence, Pierre.” My voice was cold. “Felicia told me everything.”

“Felicia?” He looked genuinely confused. “I don’t understand. I never spoke to Felicia about any of this. I would never sabotage the restaurant. It’s my life’s work too!”

“Then explain this.” I showed him the phone, the messages, the recordings.

He listened to the voice recording, and his face went through a series of emotions that looked almost like fear.

“That’s not me,” he said.

“It’s your voice. Your phone number.”

confusion, recognition, then something

“It’s not me!” He was almost shouting now. “I swear on my life, madame. I did not do this!”

One of the officers scoffed. “They all say that.”

“Please,” Pierre begged, looking at me with desperate eyes. “You know me. You’ve known me for years. Would I really destroy everything we’ve built together?”

I wanted to believe him. But the evidence was right there and Louis, the tech guy had seen Pierre inspecting after Felicia had planted those evidences. We didn’t pay attention to it at first until Felicia mentioned Pierre and it all became so clear.

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“Then explain the footage,” I said. “Explain why you were caught on camera inspecting the evidence Felicia planted.”

“What footage? I never…”

The officer pulled up the relevant clip on a tablet. Pierre watched himself walking through the darkened kitchen, checking on the planted evidence with a satisfied nod.

Pierre’s face went white.

“That’s not me,” he whispered.

“It clearly is,” the officer said impatiently.

“No.” Pierre shook his head frantically. “That’s… that’s Michel.”

“Michel?”

“My brother.” Pierre looked at me, his eyes wild. “My identical twin brother.”

The police officer laughed. “Oh, that’s convenient. The old ‘it was my twin‘ defense.”

“It’s the truth!” Pierre insisted. “God, I can’t believe this is happening” he ran his hands through his head

I stared at him, trying to process what he was saying. An identical twin? It sounded ridiculous. Like something out of a soap

opera.

But the desperation in Pierre’s eyes was real. The confusion, the fear–none of it seemed faked.

“He… he has problems, madame. Gambling debts, bad associations. ” Pierre’s voice cracked. “I never thought he would do something like this. I never imagined…”

The officers exchanged skeptical glances.

“We’ll look into it,” one of them said. “But for now, you’re coming with us for further questioning.”

As they led Pierre away, I stood there on the street, my mind reeling.

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