"Monique, Mrs. Lewis is going to the church to pray this afternoon. It's the perfect opportunity." "Excellent. That bitch will be easy to deal with once she's on that road. It's isolated—an accident would seem perfectly normal. And Scott won't suspect a thing. Heh. Once she leaves the house today, she's not coming back." "Monique, Mrs. Lewis has always been kind. Please... show her some mercy. Let her go." "You stick to your business. You're just a housemaid. You know what to say and what not to. Take the money and do your job. Otherwise, you'll regret it." The recording ended abruptly with Monique's threatening tone. Hearing it played back, Monique erupted. "This is a setup! A complete fabrication! Twenty years ago? This is slander! You bring some random audio clip and expect people to believe it? The voice might sound like mine, but who can prove it's real? I don't even know who those people in the recording are supposed to be!" Bruce stared at her, his eyes narrowing. "Don't know? Let me refresh your memory." With a snap of his fingers, an aide wheeled forward an emaciated-looking man. His sudden appearance at the gala, and his terrifyingly disfigured state, sent a shockwave through the guests. The man in the wheelchair was skeletal, draped in a cloak that only made him seem smaller. Beneath it, his face was a ruined landscape of scars. He lifted his head slowly, his gaze finding Monique. "Monique... do you remember me?" His rasping, aged voice—calling her name—instantly recalled the younger man's voice from the recording. Seeing him, Monique's pupils contracted violently. She stumbled back a step almost instinctively. "You... You... How are you...?" "You used me back then," the man croaked, his finger trembling as he pointed at her. "And then, to cover your tracks, you tried to have me killed. You poisoned me. You tried to burn me alive. Thanks to you, I only lost half my life. But I'm still here. Alive. And I can point at you in a courtroom and name you for the murderer you are." A stunned silence fell over the ballroom, followed by a surge of horrified murmurs. Monique had done that? To plot harm so coldly... How utterly vicious. Seeing the tide of opinion turn decisively against her, Monique scrambled for a defense, for any lifeline."Monique!" This time, the roar of anguish came from Scott. Hearing his voice, Monique turned. What she saw shook her to the core. Scott's eyes were bloodshot, tears glistening at the corners. Was Scott... crying? "Monique, why?" His voice was choked. "What did Kristina ever do to you? Why would you hurt her?" He struggled to speak. "I've never been able to accept her death. All these years, I've asked myself why I didn't go with her that day. Do you know why she went to the church?" Without waiting for her answer, he shouted, raw pain breaking through. "She found out about Carolyn that day! She said the child was innocent. She was going to pray for her. She wanted to find Chloe, and she wanted to pray for Carolyn's safety and wellbeing. She left... and that was it. She never came back." Scott had never been able to reconcile that Kristina had died on a simple, charitable errand. He had blamed himself for years for not being there. Now, the truth was that it was all because of the venomous woman standing before him. Not only was Chloe's disappearance her doing, but Kristina's death was too. And now, to be told Carolyn wasn't even his child... Scott felt like the universe's cruel joke. He was the punchline. Tonight, at his own gala, he had become a laughingstock. But even as a laughingstock, what could he do? He couldn't bring back what was lost. "Monique, how could you be so heartless?" Scott's voice trembled with a lifetime of misplaced trust. "Haven't I given you enough over the years? Was your own greed worth all this evil?" Looking at his shattered expression, Monique finally broke. All her pent-up bitterness exploded. "Given me enough?" She let out a sharp, humorless laugh, her pretense gone. "Scott, don't play the innocent. If you hadn't lost your self-control with me all those years ago, none of this would have happened!" She sneered openly. "Did you think I was ever charmed by you? My purpose in getting close to you was never about you. It was about..."