Chapter 71

Grandpa's words hung in the air, thick with tension. I could sense the weight of the moment, the gravity of what we were discussing. My chest tightened as I thought about everything—the poison, the betrayal, the company.

"Then Hannah must’ve put the poison in your food," Grandpa repeated from his bed, his voice weary but certain.

I sighed, trying to gather my thoughts. “She was especially cruel to me when I started middle school. She probably learned I was my father’s biological daughter. That would explain everything—her sudden hatred.”

Grandpa frowned, confusion flickering in his eyes. “But how did she find that out? And why did she say those things to Isabella?”

I leaned forward, my heart pounding as I prepared to ask the question that had been nagging at me. “How did Hannah come to marry my dad?”

Grandpa's face hardened as he recalled the past. “She was an assistant in the secretary’s office. Polite, good at her job, and she got along well with Henry. After your mother and Henry