"You were never supposed to come back."
The world tilted.
Serena's pulse slammed against her ribs.
She swallowed, forcing her voice to stay steady. "I know."
Catherine's lips curled into something cruel. "No. You don't."
The air grew heavier.
Serena could feel every pair of eyes in the room shift toward her.
Even Lorenzo—who had remained perfectly composed—had gone unnervingly still.
Catherine exhaled, almost like she pitied her.
"This was never about you being a threat, Serena."
A pause.
"It was about you being useful."
Serena's stomach twisted violently.
She had suspected it. Of course she had.
But hearing it out loud?
It was like a knife through the ribs.
Santiago's voice was dangerously calm. "What do you mean, 'useful'?"
Catherine glanced at him, eyes flickering slightly. "I mean exactly what it sounds like."
She turned back to Serena.
"You weren't framed because they wanted you gone, Serena."
She exhaled, almost sympathetically.
"You were framed because they needed a scapegoat."
Silence.
Then—Lorenzo moved.
Slow. Precise.
He dragged his chair back, the sound slicing through the silence like a blade.
Then, he leaned forward, forearms resting against the table.
His voice was calm. Controlled.
But there was murder in his eyes.
"A scapegoat," he repeated.
Catherine's jaw tightened.
Lorenzo's lips curled slightly.
"Who were they covering for?"
The question cut through the room.
Catherine's fingers twitched against the armrests.
Serena could see it now.
The flicker of hesitation.
The fear.
Catherine had given them a name already. Rinaldo.
But there was more.
Something bigger.
Serena's breath came short and sharp.
Because now, they were getting too close to the truth.
And if Catherine was hesitating?
Then whoever they were about to uncover...
Was worse than they ever imagined.
Everything was unraveling.
And for the first time since this interrogation started, Catherine looked like she wanted to take back her words.
But it was too late.
Lorenzo's gaze sharpened, deadly in its focus.
"You hesitated," he murmured, his voice smooth, lethal. "Why?"
YOU ARE READING
The ties that bind
RandomA family that once loved her. A crime she never committed. And a past that won't stay buried. For years, Serena Rossi lived in hell, locked away in a place that felt more like a prison than a school. She was punished for a crime she didn't commit-at...
CHAPTER 46 - The Truth No One Wanted
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