Chapter 238: The painful betrayal
As soon as he was out of the house, Gina locked the door securely. Suddenly, her heart started racing with anxiety. Had her father been aware of Claudia’s plan to hurt Theodore?
This thought itself was disturbing. Gina didn’t want to believe that her father had any role in Claudia’s nasty plan. She mentally prayed that the video footage shouldn’t be in her father’s safe, but she couldn’t ignore the burning doubts.
Curious and anxiety coursing through her veins, she hurried into the study. ’No, Dad can’t be as cruel as Claudia,’ she reassured herself.
Gina’s fingers trembled as she turned the doorknob and pushed open the door, her gaze taking in the dimly lit room before stepping in. She reached out to turn on the switches.
The lights flicked on with a click, illuminating the room brightly. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the small, discreet safe tucked to the right of her father’s desk. With shaky steps, she approached, her pulse thudding louder with each step.
The safe was familiar; she had watched her father open it countless times. Taking a steadying breath, she worked the lock open, the small clicks resounding in her ears. When she finally opened the door, the neat stacks of files greeted her. But her eyes darted past them, and in the back corner, half-hidden lay a small pen drive.
Her heart skipped a beat.
’Could this be it?’ she wondered, her fingers shaking as she reached inside. Just as she pulled the pen drive out, her hand brushed against a stack of files, sending them to the floor with a dull thud.
She muttered under her breath, quickly kneeling to gather the scattered files. But as she picked up a loose sheet, something slipped out – a photograph, slightly crumpled around the edges. Curious, she held it up, her brow furrowing as she studied it.
It was a photograph of a much younger Claudia. She wore a hospital gown, cradling a newborn baby in her arms.