Chapter 409 Patricia's Counterstrike
Patricia smiled; s.
She almost wanted to applaud Grace for her brilliant acting.
Unfortunately, Tthey were in the heart of the Koch family home, surrounded by Grace's relatives.
Even if if Patricia clarified everything the truth in detail, they would n't believe her. They'd be biased toward Grace.
Only then did they they notice Patricia was, also soaked.
, and Shane, reacting faster than his brain, inquiredasked, "Are you okay? AnythingYou're not hurt, are you?"
His deep concern was unmistakable, though even he didn't know why.
Jeremy noticed Patricia drenched and shivering, and asked with urgency, "Oh Llord, Patricia, how did you end up in the water?" Jeremy said. "Are you alright? Go inside and change into some dry clothes."
His concern for Patricia was almost reflexive.
Martin, too, was drawn over by the commotion.
Seeing Patricia curled up and shivering on the ground, his eyes narrowed, and he started to unbutton his coat to drape over her, but someone else beat him to it.
Riley wrapped his coat around Patricia and snugged closed it a bit tighter.
"Don't catch a cold now! You head. Head back; I'll handle this."
Martin's hands froze mid-unbutton, and he subconsciously clenched his fists.
When Grace realized that things weren't going her way, she took Shane's hand and, cried with fake vulnerability., and gently guided him.
"Don't blame Patricia,. sShe didn't mean for this to happen. There must be some misunderstanding."
Unable to bear it, Patricia clutched Riley's jacket and stood up, her face devoid of emotion.emotionless. "Is there a security camera in out here?"
Riley nodded,. "I've already sent someone to check the footage."
No sooner had he spoken than his phone buzzed with a new message. After scanning the message, his expression darkened.
After scanning the message, a dark shadow fell across his handsome face.
"The camera malfunctioned this morning and hasn't been fixed yet."
Patricia's eyes instinctively darted to Grace, catching a fleeting look of smug malevolence that she failed to concealsmugness.
In a flash, everything clicked.
Grace's plot wasn't spontaneous;Suddenly, it all made sense. Grace had been long in the makingplanning this for a while.
She had planned to kill Patricia during the family gathering that oday, making it look like an accidental fall into the pool into the river.
Even iIf Patricia hadn't come to this spot, Grace would have somehow lured her over.
ButHowever, there had been an unforeseen hitch.
a A maid appeared unexpectedly, throwing a wrench inshowed up and disrupted Grace's plans.
Grace grew petty, readybecame spiteful and to deflect and set a trap if she couldn't have her wayup a backup plan.
With this realization, Patricia let out a wry chuckled wryly. "What a coincidence that the camera just happened to break now!"."
Grace, dabbing at her tears, played innocent. "Patricia, I truly don't blame you, Patricia," Grace said, dabbing at her tears.. "I know it's all a misunderstanding. Please, go back return to your room, and let's pretend this never happened."
The housemaid pressed on.
"There's no misunderstanding. I saw with my own eyes that her hand was on your head. If I hadn't come out at just that moment, she would've drowned you."
Everyone turned their gaze to Patricia.
No words were spoken, yet the subtle shifts in their expressions spoke volumes.
Shane's face grew incrementally colder.
Patricia clearly caught a flicker of rage in his eyes, and her heart sank.
The Kochs family's recently warming warmed up attitude towards her crossed her mind,.
bBut it was cleart.
Their admiration was for her talent in jewelry design alone.
Grace was their flesh and blood.
In any conflict, their loyalties would undoubtedly veer towards Grace , one of their ownwithout question.
Jeremy sensed the tension in the air and swiftly tried to smooth things over, "Hey, let's just be thankful Grace is okay and leave it at that," Jeremy said, sensing the tension in the air.. "Let's jJust be more careful next time, alright?"
But Brooke, never one to shy away from drama, wasn't having it. "No way we can just drop it!," Brooke said, never one to shy away from drama. " If Patricia really wanted to hurt Grace, that's attempted murder. Keeping her around is like having a ticking time bomb in the house!"."
Recently, Patricia's jewelry designs had been the talk of the town, stealing the spotlight.
Brooke could feel the growing threat to her own standing.
So, for her, uThis incident was the perfect opportunity to get Patricia get rid of Patricia and kicked her out of the Koch familyresident.
Even the usually invisible Miles, who seldom spoke up at home, added his two cents.
"Grandpa only recently just found Grace after all this time. If she came to any harm because of Patricia, wouldn't that be thethat break his heart in the worst kind of heartbreak for himway?"
Shane's face was set in a frowned, he agreed,. "Brooke's right. We can't risk a ticking time bombhaving someone potentially threatening next tonear Grace!"."
No matter how much he admired Patricia for her's talent, it didn't compare to his granddaughter's safety.
Besides, someone with Patricia's sneaky ways, despite her design talents, was bound to fail eventually.
Just when Shane It was aboutbetter to ask Patricia her to leave the Koch family, family's estate.
Martin, who had been silent, finally spoke up.
He stood by the pool, his dress shoes slipping slightly on the edge.
"The pool is cleaned daily. There's no algae, rain, or anything slippery. Miss WatsonPatricia, how exactly did you fall in?"
There was room went silencet, everyone puzzling over his words.
Martin's expression was as unreadable as a still pond with his eyes showing no hint of what he was thinking, leaving everyone clueless as toabout the meaning behind his question.
Then Martin pressed on, "Considering there was no rain, no algae, how did you end up in the pool as an adult?"
They assumed he was just innocently curious.
But, but Patricia knew he was defending her.
The sense of injustice she felt came rushing forward.
Tears welled up, blurring her vision.
She knew Martin couldn't afford to say too much.
But, but his few words were enough to clear the fog from Patricia's her mind, reminding her to think clearly.
She locked eyes with Shane, her breath quivering as she inhaled. "You have to believe me! It wasn't intentional—I didn't shove her into the pool, nor did I try to hold her underwater."
""Please believe me; it wasn't intentional. I didn't shove her into the pool or try to hold her underwater. She's the one who intentionally shoved me in while I was strolling passing by the pooland. She even kept held my head down so I couldn't movecome back up. She wanted me dead."
"; if it hadn't been for the maid who hadn't luckily happened to coame out, I would've been a goner."
Grace's sobbing escalatedintensified, her plight seeming more pitiful by the second.
"Patricia, why are you frame framing me? Why would I want to kill you? I haven't... you're accusing me falsely..."—"
"Seeing her scheme fail," Patricia, not giving her a chance to keep talking, said, raised raising her voice to drown out Grace's.
"Seeing her scheme fail, , "she grabbed my hand, jumped into the pool herself, and placed my hand on atop her head to stage the illusion thatmake it look like I was pressing her down."
". If I did want her dead, I'd be insane to attempt anything here, This in her own home, surrounded by surveillance. Even if I were out of my mind, I wouldn't attempt murder here, not at the Koch residence.."
Having said that, sShe turned to Grace, saying, throwing her own words back at her,. "Just like you said, why? Why would I have a motivewant to kill you?"
Under Patricia's gaze, "Just like you said, why? Why would I have a motive to kill you?"
She held Grace's gaze until sheGrace felt figurative prickles all over her skin,. and Grace she bowed her head, averting her eyes in a hushed tone. "You resent me for taking Martin from you and wanted revenge."
Patricia let out a laugh; a laugh atself-deprecating laughher foolishness.
"Even if I were wanted revenge, I definitely wouldn'tit would be stupid to choose today,, under everyone's watch."
But Grace was not easily deterred.
"The most dangerous place is the safest," Grace said.. "You had it all planned, sabotaging the surveillance ahead of time."
Patricia was livid.
"This is the Koch estate. How could I possibly tamper with your your home's surveillance?"
She then sharply turned the conversation on its head, fixing her piercing gaze unblinkingly on Grace.
"Weren't? Besides, weren't you the one whojust kept insistingsaying there's been a misunderstanding, that it had nothing to do with me and I didn't pull you under? If soThen why do you keep challenging my words?"
As her voice trailed off, theThe room area fell silent as if filled with the a hush rustling of wings.
Chapter410
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