One bite of salmon exposed my husband’s affair, his murder plot, and the truth about the mother I was told had died...

The heavy steel door unlocked with a loud clack. Detective Vance stepped in, followed by Maren in her wheelchair.

Celeste looked up, fear and bitter resentment flashing across her pale face. "Came to gloat, Maren? Came to see the tragic, foolish sister in a cage while you play the triumphant hero?"

Maren gestured for Detective Vance to leave them alone. The door closed, leaving the two sisters separated by a plain wooden table.

"I didn't come to gloat, Celeste," Maren said, her voice tinged with a painful sadness. "I came to ask why. We shared a home. I raised you after Mom disappeared and Dad fell ill. I paid your debts. I gave you a career. How could you stand by and watch Reed try to suffocate me?"

Celeste let out a sharp, hysterical laugh that echoed off the concrete walls. "You gave me everything? You gave me leftovers, Maren! You gave me charity!"

Celeste stood up, pacing the small cell like a cornered animal. "All my life, it was always Maren! Maren the prodigy! Maren the brave girl in the wheelchair! Dad looked at you like you were a holy miracle, and he looked at me like I was a burden he had to pay off! When Reed came into the picture, he was the first person who actually looked at me. He made me feel powerful!"

"Reed was using you, Celeste!" Maren shouted back, her voice cracking with emotion. "He didn't love you! You heard him in the interrogation room—he threw you to the wolves the second his own skin was on the line!"

"He lied because he was trapped!" Celeste screamed, tears streaming down her face. "He loved me! We were going to start over in Monaco! We were going to have a real life once you were gone!"

"He was going to kill you next, Celeste," Maren said flatly.

Celeste stopped pacing, her breath catching in her throat. "What?"

Maren pulled a folded document from her coat pocket and laid it on the table. "This is a secondary life insurance policy Reed took out three months ago. On your life. Worth five million dollars. Beneficiary: Reed Whitaker."

Celeste stared at the paper, her body going rigid. She slowly walked to the table and picked it up, her eyes scanning the forged signature at the bottom.

"He set up a second peanut-oil contamination file," Maren continued quietly. "If his plan with me succeeded, you were scheduled to die of an 'accidental drug overdose' three weeks later in a hotel room in Paris. Reed was never going to share eighteen million dollars with you, Celeste. He was clearing the board."

The paper slipped from Celeste’s trembling fingers and drifted to the floor. The last remaining illusion of her twisted romance shattered into dust. She sank back onto the metal bench, covering her face with her hands as deep, wracking sobs tore through her body.

"He... he told me he loved me," Celeste wept, her voice reduced to a child's whimper. "He told me I was the only one who understood him."

"Reed is a sociopath," Maren said softly. "He uses people's weaknesses against them. He used your insecurity, and he used my trust."

Celeste looked up through her tears, her face pale and broken. "Maren... I'm sorry. I was so angry... so jealous... I didn't think he would actually let you die... I thought he was just going to scare you into signing the shares..."

"You smiled when my throat closed, Celeste," Maren reminded her, the painful reality burning between them. "You held a glass of wine and laughed while I was suffocating on the floor. I can forgive a lot of things, Celeste, but I can never forget that."

Celeste buried her head in her hands, crushed under the weight of her own cruelty and betrayal.

"The prosecutors are offering a plea deal," Maren said, her voice firm despite the sorrow in her eyes. "If you testify against Reed and Arthur Sterling regarding the financial fraud and the conspiracy to commit murder, they will drop the capital charge against you. You will serve ten years instead of life."

Celeste didn't look up. "Why are you helping me get a deal?"

"Because despite everything you did," Maren whispered, "you are still my sister. And because Mom deserves to have at least one part of this family surviving without a life sentence."