"My business was on the verge of bankruptcy at the time," Keith continued. "I owed millions to the investors, and I had nothing left. Even if I sold everything I had, I wouldn’t have been able to repay the debts. I couldn’t see my children starve to death. So we made a plan."
He took a deep breath and then continued. "Claudia worked as Bruce’s assistant. We planned to trap him. Claudia was pregnant with Frank at the time, and we thought we could use it to extort money from Bruce."
Gina felt even more disgusted as she heard that. They were so shameless that they did not hesitate to use their unborn child. She shook her head in disbelief as she heard his next words.
"We managed to drug him at a party," Keith recalled that night when he had served the spiked drink to Theodore’s father, Bruce. The drug had put him into a deep sleep, and Claudia slipped into the bed beside him.
"Claudia made him believe that he had forced her while he was drunk," he continued. "Bruce gave her money to keep it a secret as he didn’t want his wife to find out about it. He fell into our trap, and we used him to repay our debts. But his wife somehow discovered that Claudia was pregnant, and she thought it was Bruce’s child. Their issues increased and they finally divorced. Bruce then proposed to Claudia to marry him."
Keith clenched his fists, his features contorting. "That was not a part of our plan. We only wanted to extort money from him using the baby in her womb. But his proposal changed everything. We saw it as an opportunity to get everything the Reid’s owned."
"So you let her marry Theodore’s father," Gina sneered. "How could you do that? She was carrying your child!"
"We did that for your future," Keith reasoned. "If we hadn’t made that decision back then, you wouldn’t have been living in a luxury."
Gina chuckled. "No, you did that for your own comfort. I didn’t ask you for a luxury life. All I wanted was my mother, but you separated me from her." She cocked her head and squinted at him. "Tell me honestly: what else did you do to get to this point? What else you are hiding?" She paused for a moment as she glared at them, one by one. "Did you kill Theodore’s father?"
She hadn’t forgotten that Theodore had suspected that his father’s heart attack wasn’t natural. Gina was also intrigued to know if Keith and Claudia had something to do with Bruce’s heart attack.
"We had no choice," Keith replied coldly. There was no regret or pain in his eyes. "He found out about my and Claudia’s affairs. He was about to divorce Claudia. We couldn’t let him ruin our plan."
"So you killed him," Gina grumbled, shocked and terrified. "You even tried to kill Theodore! Now, you want to ruin his life just for some property. How cruel you are!" She shook her head. "What can I expect from you? One can let his woman send another man’s bed and the other can leave her baby to have a luxurious life."
"I am sorry, Gina," Claudia finally found her voice. "I wronged you. I shouldn’t have left you back then."
"Oh, please." Gina held out a hand and stopped Claudia from speaking. "Stop this drama...your fake tears won’t soften my heart. I hate you both. Because of you, I lost my love. You made Theodore hate me. He broke up with me. He said he had no feelings for me. My life is ruined. You ruined it. You make me suffer. I don’t want to be here anymore. It makes me sick to see your faces."
Grabbing her phone from the central table, she stormed toward her room.
Claudia panicked when she heard Gina was leaving. "Keith, do something to stop her," she pleaded, tugging at his arm. "She can’t leave us." 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢
"Relax, Claudia. She is upset now. She needs time. Let her stay alone for a few days. She will come back on her own once her anger subsides. Right now, we should focus on bringing Franklin out of jail."
Claudia reluctantly nodded. However, she couldn’t let Gina leave just like that. "Okay. I’ll let her go, but I want to apologize to her before that."
Keith sighed, his gaze softening as he looked at her. "This is not the right time, Claudia. She is angry. She will say things that will hurt you, humiliate you."
"It doesn’t matter," Claudia muttered, her resolve hardening. "I made mistakes. She has every right to question me." Without listening to his warning, she went into Gina’s room.
She found her packing her bag. "Gina! Please listen to me. Give me a chance to explain."
"What else do you want to explain?" Gina snapped, tossing the dress she was about to stuff in the suitcase. Her face scrunched up with annoyance as she saw Claudia. "I am sick of all that nonsense. You both are scheming. I feel so disgusted that I am your daughter. Because of my identity, Theodore refused to love me."
She genuinely thought that Theodore had rejected her only because she was Claudia’s daughter.
"How nice it would be if you were not my mother," she spat.
Claudia desperately took her hand in hers. "I agree that I am a terrible mother. I wronged you. Tell me: what should I do to get your forgiveness? I am ready to make amends with you."
"Really?" Gina sneered. "Then get lost from my life." She pushed her away forcefully.
Claudia lost her balance and tumbled down, her head hitting the edge of the vanity mirror. "Uh!" she gasped, a sharp, stinging pain radiating throughout her skull. She touched the back of her head, only to feel something wet. When she brought her hand in front of her eyes, she saw blood on her fingertips.
Gina’s eyes widened as she saw the blood. Before she could do anything, Claudia collapsed on the floor and lost consciousness.
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