Chapter 264 The Scapegoat
Finished
“It was my brother again. He went back to the gambling dens, and the debt collectors showed up at our front door. They threatened to hack off his hand if I didn’t pay up. I was desperate… I had no choice. Please, just forgive me this once. I promise it’ll never happen again.”
Quincy’s voice was ragged with panic. The day she’d received the payment from Yvonne, her mother had called, sobbing about the debt.
The collectors weren’t the kind of people you could reason with. Terrified, Quincy had handed over the bulk of the money to her mother. She figured a few street thugs would be enough to handle Tracy anyway, but she never imagined they would fail so miserably and end up in police custody.
Now, everything was falling apart.
Yvonne shoved Quincy away with cold indifference. “There is no next time, Quincy. Do you really think I’d ever trust you again after this? Those thugs have seen your face. When the police come for you, you’d better go in there and focus on your rehabilitation. If you take the full fall for this, I’ll make sure your parents and your brother are taken care of. But if you drag me down with you, nobody is left to help them. We’ll both rot.”
Yvonne knew exactly how to play this. If Quincy became the scapegoat, the trail ended there. Quincy and Tracy had a well-known history of bad blood; the motive for a murder-for-hire was already built-in. No one would look any further.
Quincy sat paralyzed on the floor, staring at Yvonne as if seeing her for the first time. She finally saw the true nature of her cousin. She was a woman who was selfish to the bone, someone who would sacrifice anyone, including her own flesh and blood, to stay ahead.
It was heartless. But Yvonne knew exactly which buttons to push; threatening Quincy’s family was the one lever that always worked.
After a long, heavy silence, Quincy bit her lip, her expression turning somber. “Fine. I’ll go to prison. But you’d better treat my family right.”
Satisfied, Yvonne’s lips curled into a thin smile. “Don’t worry. I will.”
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Chapter 264 The Scapegoat
Frasher
In reality, taking care of them would be entirely up to her whim. She wasn’t like Quincy; she wasn’t easily manipulated. She’d provide enough for basic survival, but the days of the Ginger family bleeding her dry were over. If they annoyed her, she’d cut them off without a second thought.
Suddenly, a sharp knock sounded at the door. Two uniformed officers, stepped into the office.
One of them, a young man, flashed his badge at Quincy. “Ms. Quincy? The suspects involved in a recent attempted homicide have identified you as the individual who hired them. You’re coming with us.”
Quincy scrambled to her feet, leaning in close to Yvonne before the officers could grab her. “Remember our deal, Yvonne. If you break your word, I’m taking you down with me.”
Quincy knew her cousin’s character all too well. Once she was behind bars, Yvonne would likely discard her family like trash. She used the only weapon she had left and that was mutual destruction.
Yvonne’s face paled for a fraction of a second, but she quickly recovered, patting Quincy’s shoulder with faux sympathy. “Just go. I’ve got it.”
Go ahead and threaten me, Yvonne thought. Once you’re in a cell, we’ll see who has the upper hand.
The news of Quincy’s arrest spread through the company like wildfire. By the time Jared heard about it, the rumors were already damaging the firm’s reputation. He immediately summoned Yvonne to his office.
‘Yvonne, what is going on with your cousin?” Jared asked, looking overwhelmed. “Why was she hauled off by the police?”
Yvonne’s eyes were red, as if she’d been crying for hours. “I just found out myself,” she sobbed. “I can’t believe she actually hired someone to kill Tracy. They’ve never gotten along, but I never thought she’d go this far. It’s all my fault, I should have
seen…”
“What?” Jared stood up so fast his chair nearly tipped. “She tried to have Tracy killed? Is Tracy okay?”
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Chapter 264 The Scapegoat
Finished
Seeing his genuine concern for Tracy, Yvonne’s expression darkened for a moment. She quickly masked it and sighed. “She’s physically fine. But Tracy thinks Chase was the one behind it. That’s why she stormed into the house the other day and attacked him. She’s the reason he’s in the hospital.”
At the Quinn gala, Tracy had prepared a high-end tea set as a gift. Sam had been delayed by work and hadn’t arrived yet.
After parking her car in the garage, Tracy headed toward the elevators, only to have her wrist seized in a crushing grip.
She spun around and found herself face-to-face with Jared. He looked feral, his eye’s wide with a jagged, frantic anger.
What is wrong with this man? she wondered. He’d told her to stay away from the family and never come back, yet here he was, accosting her in a parking garage.
Jared tightened his grip until it bruised. “Tracy, how could you do it? How could you hit Chase with that vase? Do you have any idea how bad it is? He’s been unconscious for days! It wasn’t Chase who tried to kill you! It was Quincy! She’s already in custody! Don’t you feel even a shred of guilt for what you did to your own brother?”
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