He slowly turned his attention toward Brenda, his voice trembling uncontrollably. “Tell me right now that you had nothing to do with this.”
Brenda began crying loudly. “I only wanted us to have a normal family together!”
Brandon stepped backward as though the words had physically struck him. “A normal family?”
Before anyone could say anything further, Raymond explained that investigators had also uncovered additional information potentially connected to the de:ath of Chloe’s biological mother, making the situation far more complicated than anyone had previously imagined.
“What does my late wife have to do with any of this?” Brandon asked, his voice sounding completely hollow, as though he could barely draw enough air into his lungs.
Raymond did not answer immediately, instead guiding Brandon toward a nearby chair while officers escorted Brenda into the corridor.
She no longer resembled the polished woman who had arrived every afternoon carrying expensive toys and comforting words, with her carefully arranged hair now loose and her coat disheveled.
