The CEO's Midnight Remedy novel Chapter 409

Chapter 409

1 sat up so fast my vision went spotty. “Poison? How the hell did she get poison in prison?”

“That’s what they’re investigating. But Aria…” David’s voice gentled. “There’s a note. She left a note. Addressed to you.”

Devon drove me to the DA’s office despite my protests that I was fine, that I could handle it, that I didn’t need him hovering. He ignored all of it, one hand on the wheel and the other resting on my knee in that possessive way that had become familiar.

“You’re not doing this alone,” was all he said.

I didn’t have the energy to argue.

Katherine Reeves met us in her office, looking tired and grim. She handed me a plastic evidence bag containing a single sheet of paper,

Victoria’s handwriting stark against the white.

“Aria,

By the time you read this, I’ll be gone. I’m not asking for forgiveness–I don’t deserve it and you wouldn’t give it anyway. But I need you

to understand something.

I loved your father. Not the way you probably think–not some shallow golddigger seduction. I actually loved him. And he loved your mother more than he’d ever love me, and I HATED her for it. Hated that she got everything–the perfect while I had to smile and play the devoted employee and pretend I didn’t want to claw her eyes out eve

The legacy, his devotion-

looked at him.

So yes, I poisoned her. Yes, I watched her die slowly and felt nothing but satisfaction. Yes, I married William six months later and thought

I’d finally won.

But I didn’t win. Because he never stopped loving her. Even when we were together, even when we had Scarlett, he was always comparing me to Elizabeth. Always finding me wanting. And I realized: I’d murdered a woman and destroyed a family for a man who would never

truly be mine.

That’s my hell, Aria. Not prison. Not the trial. Not even dying. It’s knowing that I committed the worst sin imaginable for a love that was never real. That I poisoned an innocent woman for nothing.

I hope that’s enough for you. I hope my suffering gives you closure, since my confession apparently wasn’t enough.

Tell Scarlett I’m sorry. She deserved better than me for a mother.

-Victoria

1/2

18:08 Wed, Jan 21

Chapter 409

I read it twice, my hands shaking. Then I handed it to Devon and watched his expression darken with each

“She killed herself,” I said numbly. “She poisoned herself.”

56

“Seems like it,” Katherine said. “We’re analyzing the substance, but preliminary tests suggest it was the same arsenic compound she used

on your mother. She must have smuggled it in before her arrest, kept it hidden all this time.”

“Jesus.” I pressed my hands to my face. “She held onto it for months. Just in case.”

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify