6. Poisoned Truths

​There, Iris sat by the large window, staring at the garden with a look of fragility that always deceived those who saw her. But the moment the maid whispered in her ear, that mask of vulnerability shattered.

​The teacup in Iris’s hand slipped. The expensive porcelain hit the marble floor, shattering into pieces.

“Sara is pregnant?” Iris hissed, staring intently at the small object in her maid's hand. Her voice was no longer shaky or raspy. It was cold, sharp, and laced with a predatory threat she had perfectly concealed until now.

​She gripped the armrests of her wheelchair. If Damon found out Sara was carrying his offspring, Iris’s position as the only woman Damon cherished would be jeopardized. More than that, Damon’s adoptive father would view the baby as a valuable asset. If the child were born, Sara would gain a layer of protection that neither Damon nor Iris could touch.

“She cannot bear that child,” she murmured to herself.

She didn’t cry. She no longer looked like a tragic victim. She gazed at her loyal maid with piercing intensity. A cruel plan began to take shape in her mind. 

She knew Damon was an emotional time bomb when it came to her, and she would use that bomb to destroy Sara and the fetus in her womb.

​Iris wasted no time. In the Moretti world, pity was a luxury she couldn't afford. The moment she learned of Sara’s pregnancy, she knew her time by Damon’s side was running out. 

That night, she ordered her loyal maid to slip into the pavilion. ​In the maid’s hand was a small vial of clear liquid. A poison—odorless, colorless, and lethal.

“Make sure she drinks it before dawn,” Iris whispered.

​Fate, however, had other plans. 

Albert Sterling’s health plummeted. On Damon’s orders, the guards moved him to the medical pavilion for closer supervision. Damon wouldn't let him die. His revenge had only just begun.

“Go tend to your father,” Damon said, leaving Sara alone.

She had just finished helping her father lie down, exhausted after a day of suppressing the nausea in her stomach. 

The maid, assuming the pavilion was occupied only by Sara, placed a tray of herbal tea laced with poison on the old wooden table before vanishing into the darkness.

“Drink this, Dad. It will help your breathing before the doctor comes back,” she said softly. She offered the cup to her father, who was struggling against the tightness in his chest.

​Albert, with trembling hands, drained the cup.

​It took only minutes for the poison to take hold. Sara, who was straightening the blankets, froze as she heard a guttural sound from her father's throat. 

Albert choked, his breath cutting off sharply. His frail body went rigid, then arched in a violent seizure.

“Dad?!” Sara screamed, scrambling onto the bed and clutching his trembling frame. “Help! Guards! Get a doctor!”

Thin foam seeped from the corner of Albert’s lips. His eyes widened, staring at the ceiling, before his body finally went limp. 

Silence followed. Only the ticking of the wall clock remained, sounding like a judgment.

She cradled her father’s body, her tears hot and suffocating. The doctor arrived and delivered the worst possible news: her father was gone.

“Dad, wake up... please, wake up... don't leave me alone….”

​But the heartbeat she prayed would return was gone forever. Her father was truly dead, leaving her alone in this prison.

​Damon arrived at the pavilion shortly after, summoned by the doctor. He found Sara still clinging to her father’s cold body. A medical examination by the family doctor confirmed the presence of a high-dose toxin.

​The next day, rumors spread like wildfire. Iris, with her masterful ability to manipulate the truth, ensured the whispers reached Sara’s ears.

“Albert Sterling was a casualty of the power struggle between Roger and Damon. The old man was just a pawn used by one to corner the other.”

​Sara, completely shattered, swallowed the lie whole. To her, the logic held. 

Roger had suddenly appeared to offer freedom, and Damon hated them both. Her father was merely a worthless pawn sacrificed in their bloody feud.