Bernard quickly held down Egbert’s hand. “Not yet. Making a big deal out of this with the police will not benefit Alcott Group. It could even present an opportunity for other companies to take advantage.”
“What should we do, then? Just let the wretch who killed my mother go? Besides, I am the victim. Even if it causes a stir, what does it matter? What have I done wrong?” Egbert’s hand, clutching his phone, was clenched so tightly that his veins were throbbing.
Avery chimed in, “Honey, isn’t your relative a police officer? When the time comes, make a charge unrelated to Alcott Group against her, letting her take the fall.”
Suddenly, a knock at the door interrupted them. It was Wilcox, carrying a briefcase.
Inside the briefcase were my spare phone and a stack of documents.
“After verification, it has been confirmed that the Facebook account indeed belongs to your wife Avery. Both the registration and subsequent verifications were normally operated by your wife herself.” Wilcox handed the stack of documents to Egbert.
Egbert took over and meticulously reviewed each printed document and piece of evidence. After scrutinizing each, he looked at Avery, his eyes filled with disappointment.
He flung the documents at Avery’s face. “Look what you’ve done!”
The papers fluttered to the floor, and Avery picked them up. Seeing the evidence, she still retorted, “No, honey, I can explain. I did create this Facebook account, but it was always Lucia using it. She asked me to help with verifications and sent fake chat logs to herself. I didn’t know about any of this.”
Her eyes reddened, eliciting my pity.
“Honey, don’t you trust me? After all these years, is our relationship so vulnerable?”
Bernard coughed lightly and spoke up, “Buddy, you really went too far this time. How could you believe an outsider?”
Egbert hesitated.
“Yes, honey, she is just jealous of my life. We grew up together, and she was never as good as me, so she staged this whole scene to frame me! She’s just trying to sabotage our relationship because she can’t stand to see me happy!” Avery clung to Egbert’s arm, sobbing softly.
Seeing this, I scoffed coldly, “Still being played like a fool even after being cuckolded.”
Before Egbert could react, someone else walked in.
It was Archibald.
He carried a leather bag, taking out items I had previously given him one by one.
“These are the shoes, shirt, tablet, and doll you gave me…” Archibald threw a teddy bear onto the couch with force.
The teddy bear’s head hit the corner of the couch, activating its recording feature.
“Don’t rush. I’ve already reached Lucia’s house. I’ll tell Egbert I’m staying over tonight and then go meet you.”
“You can come pick me up, or we can meet at the old place.”
“Of course I miss you, darling.”
It was Avery’s voice.
I remembered when I first bought this teddy bear, the seller mentioned it had a recording feature. I had planned to record something for Archibald and was testing the function when Avery arrived, and I forgot about it.
Unexpectedly, it recorded Avery’s phone conversation.
Archibald stood frozen in shock.
Avery, horrified, threw the teddy bear out the window and screamed at me, “You’re despicable, using voice-changing software to mimic my voice. You’re insane!”
The live stream had already exceeded 500, 000 viewers, with comments nearly flooding the screen.