His face was exposed.

Vivian’s hysteria stopped.

Then she scrambled upright.

“She’s mad. She wrote nonsense. Don’t believe her.”

Still lying.

Still trying to discredit my mother.

“What are you waiting for?” she shouted at her men. “Grab her before she hurts the detective.”

As they moved toward Hayes, Vivian hurried to the wall.

A camera clicked.

Hayes had already photographed the words.

He put down the first man who tried to seize my mother.

The reporters had been ushered outside.

Vivian had paid them.

They knew what they were supposed to film.

Anything else would simply become leverage for a larger payment.

The only person who truly cared about those bloody words was the detective who had slipped in unnoticed.

He gave Vivian a cold look and supported my mother.

“Don’t be afraid. Come with me. You can tell me slowly.”

She clung to his hand, tears filling her eyes.

She opened her mouth.

Only a broken sound came out.

Hayes stopped.

He saw that her tongue was gone.

His face tightened with anger and pity.

“Who did this to you? Nobody will hurt you now. Come to the station. Whoever they are, I swear on this uniform I’ll get you justice.”

I couldn’t stop crying.

I had waited so long.

Paid so much.

I looked at Vivian with hatred.

“At last. You’re going to pay.”

She couldn’t see me.

She watched Hayes prepare to leave with my mother, her gaze dark.

“You’re really going to believe something a madwoman scrawled on a wall? You’ve seen Julian searching for his wife. And she’s back now. Lucian is keeping her at Rosehaven.”

Her voice drifted after him.

“Instead of rescuing her, you’re harassing the victim’s family?”

I saw murder in her eyes.

A chill passed through me.

Would she dare hurt a police officer?

“Whether it’s nonsense or the truth is for us to investigate,” Hayes replied. “You don’t decide. As for your son, if his conscience is clear, he has nothing to fear.”

He strode to the door.

Opened it.

Stopped.

“Are you threatening an officer, Mrs. Whitmore?”

Her men blocked the way.

The reporters were gone.

Vivian approached, calmer now.

“What a hurtful thing to say. We’re only concerned for your safety. She’s filthy. She could be carrying something contagious. Leave her with me. Once she’s cleaned up, we’ll turn her over.”

Hayes kept a protective arm in front of my mother.

“And if I refuse? I don’t leave?”

Vivian smiled.

“Then everyone here will have seen you die heroically protecting me from a lunatic. She stabbed you with a poisoned knife. You were dead before help could come.”