Chapter 5: Playing the Long Game

I even told her to remember to see a doctor.

But I never thought it was the person in her bed poisoning her.

When I close my eyes, Rachel appears in front of me.

She smiles gently at me, and that smile is enough for me to give my life for her.

At first, I only wanted to find evidence of Mason’s crime and bring him to justice.

But now I’ve changed my mind.

They must live.

They must taste, bit by bit, the suffering they inflicted on Rachel.

They must hurt as much as Rachel did. Only then is it justice.

I asked Harper, “Why give me this video?”

She gazed at my face for a long time, then said calmly:

“Rachel showed me your photo.”

“She said you were the sister she loved most.”

Inside the diamond necklace I gave Mason’s mother, I hid a tiny listening device. For a second, I wondered if I’d really gone too far—but then I remembered Rachel’s smile.

She would never have guessed that the expensive gift I presented would be the first step to destroy them.

Turning on my phone, I heard their family discussing business.

Mason’s father said, “Our contract with the county’s public works is about to expire. We have to win the next bid.”

“That’s our biggest client. We can’t let anyone else take it.”

...

The Keller family ran a construction supply business, with a five-year contract with the county government—their biggest client.

The Reed Group people were also in construction supplies.

That’s when the plan started to come together.

I went to the Reed family.

Their house was old, stately but worn, the paint peeling from the porch railings. Following the housekeeper, I climbed the steep and narrow stairs.

I saw the woman sitting in a wheelchair, also a pitiful victim of a family takeover.

She looked up at me with sharp, wary eyes, her hands folded neatly in her lap. I took a breath. “Do you want revenge?”

“Let Reed Group join the bidding for the county’s supplier contract. No matter what the terms, just agree.”

“When it’s done, I’ll help you personally send your husband to jail.”

Although Miss Reed had been sidelined, she still held some shares.

Her lips curled in a small, bitter smile. Reed Group went all out to bid, and Keller’s small company had no chance.

The weather turned cold. Frost gathered on the windows. Everything felt brittle, on the edge of breaking.

My relationship with Mason got better and better, and the wedding was officially on the agenda.

That day, Mason held my foot and carefully trimmed my toenails.

We were sitting on the couch, the TV murmuring in the background. I watched him, thinking how easily things could fall apart. I kicked him lightly, acting spoiled: “I want a $200,000 engagement gift, no negotiation.”

Mason’s lips stiffened for a moment.

He looked up at me, searching my face for any sign I was joking. I glanced at him, took out contract after contract from the safe, and tossed them in front of him:

“After we get married, these will all be yours.”

Looking at these assets, Mason’s eyes glazed over, and I could almost hear him swallowing.

He ran his fingers over the papers, his breath coming a little faster. A few days ago, Miss Reed had just sent me a tender document.

It was the procurement contract taken from the Keller family—their company’s main source of income.

Without their biggest client, the Keller family’s finances worsened, and business plummeted.

If they didn’t sell their cars and house, there was no way they could come up with $200,000 in cash quickly. They were trapped, and they knew it.

But I’d painted a big picture for Mason.

I spoke of vacations, investments, a future full of luxury. With Mason’s greed, in order to marry me quickly, he’d do anything.

A few days later at a gala, Mason met Paul Sanchez.

Paul was slick—expensive suit, gold watch, the kind of guy who always had a story about Vegas. For a second, I wondered if Mason saw right through him—but he didn’t. He claimed to be a businessman just back from Vegas, very interested in the construction supply business, wanting to work with the Keller family.

Mason hit it off with him and signed a contract on the spot.

Their first business deal went very smoothly.

Mason bragged about it for days, convinced his luck was finally turning. Hearing that Mason was worrying about the engagement money, Paul enthusiastically introduced him to a quick way to make money.

He talked up the tables, the odds, the thrill of the game. I watched Mason’s eyes light up, and my stomach twisted. Mason got addicted to gambling when he went to Vegas with Paul.

In just a few days, he lost all the money in his account, almost getting his hands and feet broken and left in the desert.

Paul called me in a panic, saying Mason was in trouble. I felt a cold rush of satisfaction. Mason’s father signed several loss-making contracts and mortgaged a house to barely help him pay off his gambling debts.

Later, Paul introduced Mason to an old construction supply warehouse being sold at a discount.

To close the deal quickly, Mason specially applied for financing to acquire it.

During that time, Mason and his father were busy with company matters.

Mason’s mother was in poor health and needed daily medication.

I moved into the Keller house to take care of her, attentive and thorough.

I made her tea, kept her company, even read to her in the evenings. On Christmas Eve, the house was silent.

The only sound was the wind rattling the windows, and the faint strains of "Silent Night" playing from the old radio. For a moment, I felt almost peaceful, almost guilty.

The branches swayed, casting twisted shadows on the snow. Turning back, I saw Mason’s mother standing behind me.

Her expression was strange, her eyes staring fixedly at the white wall behind me. It made my skin crawl.