The Stand-In Who Burned the Script novel Chapter 484

When Sylvia Vaughan died, Vivian was not even ten years old.

The incident had caused a massive uproar at the time, dominating the headlines of local newspapers.

Sylvia had vanished without a trace. A missing persons report was filed, but a full month passed with no leads. When she was finally found, all that remained was a charred corpse.

"So it was a kidnapping?"

"Likely."

Simon's voice was heavy. "Dominic Fairchild was hit hard by the incident. According to sources who knew them back then, he spent his days heavily drinking. Whenever he came home, he'd take all his misplaced anger out on Miss Fairchild."

Silas frowned deeply. "If he lost his wife, shouldn't he have poured all his love into the daughter she left behind? What do you mean he took his anger out on Vivian?"

"Because the day after the police found her body, Dominic received an anonymous letter. Apparently, it was filled with highly indecent photos of his wife."

This meant that for a long time leading up to her brutal murder, Sylvia had been subjected to horrific torture.

And Dominic had already been unfaithful by that point.

To him, whether Sylvia lived or died didn't matter.

But the fact that she had stained his reputation with the ultimate humiliation of infidelity—that mattered deeply.

Simon's anger flared as he relayed the details. He took a sharp breath and continued, "Boss, I've sent the detailed investigation files to your email. You can review them yourself."

Internal case files weren't accessible to the public. He had to pull a lot of strings just to get his hands on a portion of the original police records.

The kidnappers who took Sylvia were never caught.

And the secluded shack where her remains were discovered was nearly a hundred miles away from downtown Southampton.

After ending the call, Silas stood by the window in silence for a long time before returning to his desk. He opened his laptop, his eyes sweeping over the stark lines of text and the grainy, unsettling crime scene photos.

Given Sylvia's status, the case would have been under immense public scrutiny back then. Yet, it still ended as a cold case.

Either the perpetrators were incredibly cunning...

Or... this was a meticulously premeditated conspiracy.

Was everything Vivian doing now just to uncover the truth behind what happened all those years ago?

The glow from the monitor cast sharp shadows over Silas's striking features. His brow furrowed slightly. A moment later, he picked up his phone and sent a text.

Had he really not come back to sleep at all?

She rolled over and pulled her phone from under her pillow. The moment the screen unlocked, a Twitter news alert popped up.

Grace Gifford and Sterling Enterprises had officially terminated all of their endorsement contracts. The media and netizens were already running wild with speculation, guessing the two had suffered a messy falling out.

Scandals involving billionaire families were always prime entertainment. Related hashtags quickly dominated the trending charts. Even with the PR department working overtime, they couldn't suppress the sheer volume of public gossip.

The opinions were split down the middle.

One camp insisted it was just a lovers' quarrel and that their deep-rooted history meant they would inevitably reconcile.

The other side argued that making it so public meant the bridge was completely burned. They speculated that the glamorous Miss Gifford had finally grown tired of Silas's poor judgment.

As Vivian scrolled, she realized Grace had likely been dropped by Sterling Enterprises a while ago. For the news to leak now... was someone deliberately trying to cause trouble for the Sterling Family?

She arched an eyebrow and closed the app.

After getting out of bed and washing up, she ate breakfast and headed to the office. As usual, she sent Silas two aggressively flirtatious texts.