Chapter Twenty–Seven
Anna’s face was a mask of determination as she pulled out her phone with shaking fingers. “Fine. You want evidence? I’ll give you evidence.”
She dialed quickly, her voice sharp when the call connected. “Margaret, this is Mrs. Morrison. I need you to send me the surveillance footage from the villa immediately. From two days ago.”
11
“Which cameras, ma’am?” came the housekeeper’s voice through the speaker.
“All of them,” Anna snapped. “Especially the hallway near my bedroom and the study. Send everything to my phone right now.”
She ended the call and turned to face the room with an arrogant smile. “You’ll all see the truth in a few minutes. Then Pervis will have no choice but to confess.”
Aria raised one elegant eyebrow. “Will he now?”
“Absolutely,” Anna declared confidently. “The footage doesn’t lie.”
Her phone chimed within minutes, and she began downloading the files. The tension in the interrogation room was palpable as everyone waited.
“Here,” Anna said triumphantly, connecting her phone to the room’s monitor. “Let’s watch together, shall we?”
The footage began playing on the screen–grainy but clear enough to show Pervis entering the villa with Aria following behind him.
“See?” Anna pointed. “There he is, sneaking into my home like the thief he is!”
But as the video continued, it showed only Pervis going directly to the bedroom, opening the safe behind the painting, and removing documents–clearly his own papers, which he placed carefully in a leather portfolio.
He never approached Anna’s jewelry box. Never touched the cash drawer. Never took anything that wasn’t already his.
Anna’s triumphant expression began to falter. “Wait… keep watching. He must have…”
The footage showed Pervis packing his belongings, then encountering Justina in the hallway. The entire confrontation was captured, including Aria’s arrival and eventual departure. At no point did Pervis go near the safe where Anna’s valuables were kept.
“This is impossible,” Anna whispered, her face going pale. “It has to be there. Keep watching.”
They fast–forwarded through hours of footage showing nothing but an empty villa. Anna’s certainty crumbled with each passing minute of video that showed absolutely no evidence of theft.
“Impossible,” she repeated, louder this time. “This can’t be right. I know the items are missing!”
Aria’s anger, which had been simmering beneath her composed exterior, finally erupted. She stepped forward and delivered a sharp slap across Anna’s face that echoed through the concrete room.
“You arrogant fool!” Aria’s voice was cold fury incarnate. “You dragged an innocent man to a police station, had him handcuffed and humiliated, all based on nothing but your own baseless assumptions!”
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Chapter Twenty–Se
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Anna clutched her reddening cheek, tears of shock springing to her eyes.
“I will make you pay for this,” Aria continued, her voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. “Every indignity you’ve inflicted on Pervis will come back to you tenfold.”
Pervis, meanwhile, remained perfectly calm. He looked at the police chief with mild interest. “Am I free to leave now?”
“No!” Anna screamed, her composure completely shattered. “This can’t be! If Pervis didn’t take them, then who did? Someone stole from me!”
Pervis turned to look at her, a cold sneer playing at his lips. “Why don’t you check your good ‘brother‘ Noah’s behavior on those surveillance tapes?”
“Noah?” Anna’s voice rose to a shrill pitch. “You’re still trying to slander him? Even now?”
“I’m not slandering anyone,” Pervis replied with infuriating indifference. “I’m simply suggesting you examine all the evidence before making accusations.”
“This is just your jealousy talking!” Anna insisted desperately. “You’ve always hated Noah! You’re trying to frame him because you can’t accept that I care about someone other than you!”
“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” Pervis said coolly. “The fact remains that whoever took your items, it wasn’t me.”
Anna’s hands trembled as she grabbed her phone again. “Fine! I’ll prove Noah had nothing to do with this!”
She pulled up the footage from the day the items actually went missing–the day after Pervis had left. Her finger jabbed at the fast–forward button, her eyes glued to the screen.
The timestamp showed late afternoon. The villa appeared empty. Then a figure appeared in the hallway–Noah, walking casually toward Anna’s study.
“See?” Anna said, though her voice lacked its earlier confidence. “He’s just walking through the house. There’s nothing-”
Noah entered the study. He looked around carefully, as if checking to make sure he was alone. Then he approached the painting that concealed the safe.
Anna’s face went white as paper.
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Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
