Chapter 73
“Mom? You mean Stella?” Marvin turned his head, puzzled. “But isn’t your mom supposed to be that other lady?”
He glanced over at Rachel, lying in the hospital bed. “Weren’t you two just at the family day event this morning?”
Keen’s face was as stoic as ever. “Just because she played games with me doesn’t make her my mom.”
“But when everyone asked you, you didn’t deny it,” Marvin replied, wide-eyed and innocent. “And didn’t you mention Stella was your nanny?”
Nanny? The word hung heavy in the air.
Everyone exchanged glances, each face a mix of surprise and discomfort. Even though the truth was an open secret, it wasn’t openly acknowledged. If word went out that Mrs. O’Brien was the family nanny, it wouldn’t be Stella who bore the brunt of the gossip but Haynes and the entire O’Brien family.
Just then, Neville, who had been silent, finally spoke up. “Star, I’m here to give you something.”
All eyes turned to Neville. A casual smile played on his lips as he handed a phone to Stella.
Stella unlocked it and found a video waiting for her. As she played the video, Rachel and her figures appeared on the screen. It was footage from the staircase incident.
Stella’s eyes widened slightly. “This is…”
Neville replied, “This is the video of why Ms. Pearce fell down the stairs.”
“Video?” Rachel’s gaze shifted nervously, her voice trembling. “But… there weren’t any cameras in that stairwell…”
Stella looked at her and asked, “Ms. Pearce, how do you know there’s no surveillance?”
Realizing her slip, Rachel forced a smile and replied, “When I went to find Keen, I looked around and thought there wasn’t any…”
Neville chuckled, his voice lazy and amused. “Well, there isn’t any official surveillance. But Marvin was filming Star and caught something interesting.”
Neville’s phone was top-notch, capturing everything in crystal-clear detail. The video showed Rachel chasing Stella and then tripping and falling.
As the video ended, silence filled the room.
Neville chuckled. “No surveillance there, but thankfully, someone caught it on camera. Otherwise, Star would’ve been in hot water with no way out.”
Rachel quickly added, “I never said Ms. Cameron pushed me.”
Stella fixed her gaze on her. “But when I took the blame, Ms. Pearce, you didn’t say it wasn’t me.”
Jasper was shocked, surprised that Stella hadn’t pushed Rachel. His face flushed with embarrassment, feeling like a slap in his face.
But Jasper wasn’t about to back down. “Well, Keen said he saw it. When your son said it, who would doubt it?”
Keen stared at the video playing in a loop, his eyes shifting as he processed what he saw. “Mom and Rachel were close, and then Rachel fell. I thought… I thought…”
Marvin suddenly piped up with confusion written all over his face. “Why would you think your mom is a bad person?”