Chapter 528

The lights in the Johnston main hall were blinding, making everything feel sharper, more intense. Lindey didn’t give me her usual warm welcome; instead, her expression was all nerves. Matthew just sat there, still as a statue. I couldn’t ignore how frail he looked now—thinner, with hair that had gone almost completely white. But as Hayden and I stepped in, he barely reacted, his face a blank slate.

Lindey got up, awkwardly. “Rea, Hayden… you’re here.”

“Lindey. Matthew,” I greeted, same as always. Matthew gestured for us to sit, and Isabel brought over tea.

“Are you hurt?” Matthew asked, breaking the silence. I wanted to shrug it off, but my wrist burned—a painful reminder of hours spent tied up, bruises still fresh and sore. Lindey noticed. Her hand twitched like she wanted to reach out, but she held back. It was like she wasn’t sure if she could still show that kind of care.

“Let Lindey put some ointment on that later,” Matthew said, his voice calm. A bitter taste filled my mouth. “That won’t be necessary.”

“Rea…” Lindey’s voice was barely a whisper. But Matthew raised his hand, stopping her. He looked at me directly. “Rea, ask what you came to ask.”

I swallowed, my throat tight. “Is what Thorsten told me true?” I looked at him—the man who’d been like a father for so long. And suddenly, I was terrified. Terrified his answer would wreck everything I thought I knew. But the words I dreaded still came from his lips.

“Yes.” That single word hit like a punch to the gut. My breath caught, and I stared at him, my gaze shaky. Matthew held my eyes, steady. “Your parents’ deaths… I arranged it.”

Boom. My world collapsed right there. Even though Thorsten had laid it all out, I’d clung to the hope that without Matthew’s confession, it couldn’t be real. But now he’d confessed. But he’d said it. He was the one who’d taken my parents’ lives. And all this time, I had treated my parents’ killer as my own father.

“It was selfish of me. I was too desperate for success back then,” he said, disturbingly calm. Ten years had passed. My parents were long gone, nothing but memories and ashes, while he’d built his empire. He might be calm, but I felt like I was drowning in anger. “Just because my father wouldn’t work with you… you thought that was reason enough to take his life?”