The True Heiress Reborn And Slays (Alicia Delaney) novel Chapter 471

12:55 Mon, Jul 13

Chapter 471 I Was the Victim

Chapter 471 I Was the Victim

91

+10 Free Coins

Lucas gave a polite nod. “Appreciate the trouble, Mr. Lockwood. Let me drop my bags upstairs. I’ll be down shortly,” he said.

“Of course! Take your time. I’ll wait right here in the lobby.” Chase bobbed his head and watched Lucas and his team head for the elevator.

The doors slid shut, and the polite mask fell off Lucas‘ face. He didn’t bother hiding his disgust.

If he weren’t trying to get a read on the Harper family as fast as possible, he wouldn’t waste a single minute on someone like Chase.

Riley made her way back to Harper Group. She went straight to the top floor and knocked on Raymond’s door.

“Come in,” he called.

She pushed the door open.

Raymond was buried in paperwork, but the moment he saw her face, his expression softened into a smile. “What’s up?” he asked.

Riley’s face was tight and serious.

He set down his pen. “What’s wrong? You look terrible. Did you run into trouble at work?”

She walked up to his desk, her body strung tight like she was barely holding herself together. “Raymond, do you remember about seven or eight years ago, Elsie hit someone with her car? And Melissa covered it up?”

Raymond froze. He hadn’t expected that at all.

“I think… there was something like that.” He leaned back, thinking. “Elsie had just turned eighteen. Mom wanted to celebrate, so she bought her a custom Porsche as a birthday gift.

“Dad tried to talk her out of it. Elsie had just gotten her license and barely knew how to drive, and that car had way too much power. He said it was asking for trouble. But Mom wouldn’t listen. She said he was overreacting.”

Riley held his gaze and waited.

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12:55 Mon, Jul 13

Chapter 471 I Was the Victim

91

+10 Free Coins

Raymond let out a heavy sigh. “He wasn’t wrong. Elsie didn’t have that car long before she crashed it. Hit someone downtown. I only heard about it from the house staff. They said the person she hit was hurt really badly and rushed to the hospital. Unconscious. Dad was furious when he found out. He said we had to go to the hospital right away, take responsibility, and make it right.

“But Mom stopped him. Wouldn’t let him go. She said she’d already handled everything. The victim was just some orphan with no family and no connections. She’d pay the orphanage enough to keep it quiet. No record. No fallout. Nothing that could touch Elsie’s future.

“Dad thought it was disgusting, using money to crush someone like that. They had the worst fight I’d ever seen them have.”

Raymond paused and looked at Riley, his eyes complicated. “And then Mom did what she’s doing now. Took Elsie and walked out.”

Riley felt her stomach drop. The dramatic exit, the threat of leaving–it had always been Melissa’s weapon of choice.

“What happened after that?” she asked.

Raymond let out a bitter laugh. “After? You know Dad. Tough on the outside, soft on the inside. It took a few days, and then he folded. Went to wherever they were staying, apologized, and brought them home. And to smooth things over, he even bought Elsie another new car.”

He shook his head. Even now, saying it out loud, it sounded absurd.

Then something clicked in his brain, and his expression shifted. Melissa had buried that whole incident so deep that almost no one knew about it outside the immediate family.

Riley was barely back. How did she dig up those details? Unless-

Raymond looked up fast, his face going tight. “Wait. Riley, how do you even know about this? Almost no one was supposed to know. Unless…”

He didn’t want to finish the thought. His throat moved as he forced the words out. “Were you connected to the victim somehow?”

Riley’s lips set in a tight, frigid line. She tugged at a hollow half–smile. “I was the victim,” she said, her tone sharp and clear.

The words slammed into Raymond like a physical blow. He stumbled back half a step. The shock hit him just as hard as finding out Melissa had been the one to throw Riley away.

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