Chapter 1047:

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Cathryn’s expression had eased. His account matched exactly what her investigation had revealed. A waiter had slipped a hallucinogen into his drink. Kyla’s silhouette was nearly identical to hers. Between the alcohol and the drug, Andrew had genuinely mistaken one for the other. Physically, he had been with someone else. But in his mind, he had never left her.

“It’s my fault,” Andrew said. “I shouldn’t have touched the alcohol that night, and I never should have taken Kyla home.” He raised his hand suddenly and struck himself hard across the face, leaving a vivid red mark across his cheek.

Cathryn’s chest tightened watching him. The guilt on his face was real, and the bruise forming on his skin was real.

“Kyla didn’t walk into that room by mistake,” Cathryn said quietly. “And you didn’t black out from the alcohol alone.”

Andrew looked up sharply. “What do you mean?”

Cathryn held out her phone. The surveillance footage played clearly on the screen — a waiter tipping a packet of white powder into Andrew’s glass before sliding it across the bar.

Andrew’s face went pale. “This is completely different from the footage I received.” He pulled up his own copy and played both side by side.

Cathryn identified the discrepancy immediately. “Yours has been doctored.”

Andrew stared. “Are you certain?”

“I showed Kyla the original,” Cathryn said. “She confessed on the spot. She must have panicked when she thought you might find the truth, so she had someone alter the footage before sending it to you.”

A fierce, burning light ignited in Andrew’s eyes. “I can’t believe she actually did this,” he said, his voice low and tight.

𝖱𝗲𝖺𝗱 𝘵𝗵𝖾 𝘭𝖺t𝖾𝘀𝘵 𝘁𝗿e𝘯d𝗌 𝗈𝘯 g𝘢𝘭𝗻𝗼𝗏𝖾𝗅s.𝘤𝗈m

Cathryn glanced at him. “Her obsession with you pushed her past the point of reason.”

“I told her repeatedly that I was married and that there was no possibility between us,” Andrew said, his jaw working. “When she seemed to back off, I thought she had finally accepted it. I let my guard down.”

“She and Zoe and Jordyn are all cut from the same cloth,” Cathryn said, her voice carrying quiet contempt. “They present themselves as reasonable while plotting in the dark.”

Andrew’s fists clenched until his knuckles cracked. “I never imagined Kyla would go this far.”

Cathryn’s gaze darkened as a more troubling thought took shape. Kyla’s scheme was too layered, too precisely executed for Jordyn to have conceived alone. Someone more calculating was directing it from the shadows. Zoe was currently in prison and couldn’t have orchestrated any of this. That left only one person with both the motive and the capability — Cara.

But something didn’t align. If the goal was to install Kyla as Andrew’s wife and give her a child, Kyla would naturally side with Andrew. Cathryn couldn’t see how that served Cara’s interests.

And then it clicked. Cara would never actually allow Kyla to give birth to that baby.

A cold grip seized her chest. If this was Andrew’s only chance at a child, she had to do whatever it took to protect it.

“I won’t let another woman carry my child. Kyla’s baby has to be aborted,” Andrew said firmly.

“No way!” Cathryn blurted out, shocked.

Andrew’s expression darkened. “Is that child really that important to you? More important than what we have?”

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