Rebirth: My CEO Husband's Thoughts Are Too Shameless

"Hah! I always knew this man was lying. And yet everyone here was so quick to blame Julianna!"

Dorothy immediately reached for her daughter and pulled her into a protective hug.

Julianna buried her face against her mother’s shoulder and broke into tears.

"I’m sorry, Mom..."

Her voice trembled as though she had been deeply hurt by everyone’s accusations.

The sight of her crying made several people in the crowd exchange uncomfortable glances. A few even looked at her with sympathy.

Clara, however, couldn’t help scoffing under her breath.

"There she goes again, playing the victim."

As much as Clara wanted to believe Julianna was innocent, she couldn’t simply forget what she had witnessed with her own eyes. If she hadn’t seen Julianna take the bottle from Thomas herself, she might have actually fallen for those tears.

She glanced toward Dominic.

Her expression tightened.

"Dominic, there is no way Julianna has ever known this man," Vincent said firmly. "It’s obvious that he’s lying to save himself. And Clara is supporting him because she’s trying to cover up what she did."

Dominic’s expression immediately turned grim.

The atmosphere around them changed.

Everyone who noticed his expression felt a chill run down their spines.

Even Clara found herself momentarily speechless.

Don’t tell me he’s actually believing them.

She had no idea what Dominic thought about the evidence so far, but the last thing she wanted was for him to take Vincent’s words at face value.

Clara took a breath before speaking.

"We can ask the IT team to examine both their phones. If Julianna deleted the messages or call records, they might still be able to recover them."

"Enough, Clara!"

Vincent’s furious voice cut through the crowd.

"We’ve had enough of your nonsense. Everyone here knows whose fault this is."

Clara turned toward her father, stunned by the anger in his voice.

Vincent pointed toward her.

"You’re only trying to shift the blame onto Julianna because you don’t want to take responsibility for what happened."

"That’s not true!" Clara protested.

"Then let the officer check your things first," Vincent snapped. "Your food was the one that caused Mr. Graham to fall ill, wasn’t it? So why are you so desperate to point fingers at everyone else?"

Clara stared at him in disbelief.

"Father, you know that’s not what happened."

Vincent ignored her.

"Officer, check her belongings and investigate her first. If there’s something she doesn’t want us to find, you’ll find it."

The officer stood awkwardly between them.

He was beginning to feel trapped.

From everything he had heard, Clara’s food was the one that had allegedly been poisoned. Yet the supposed witness was accusing Julianna, while Clara insisted Julianna had handed Thomas the bottle.

Nothing seemed to line up.

Who am I supposed to believe? the officer wondered helplessly.

He finally cleared his throat.

"Well, based on what everyone has told me so far, it appears that Miss Clara’s food was the one that was poisoned."

Everyone turned toward him.

The officer hesitated before continuing.

"So, until we have more concrete evidence, the person we need to question first would be Miss Clara."

"That’s not fair!" Hannah snapped from the side as she stepped forward to defend Clara.

Her eyes immediately turned toward Julianna.

"How long are you going to keep playing the victim, Julianna?" she asked, unable to control her frustration.

Julianna’s tears continued to fall.

"I don’t know what you’re talking about."

"Officer, I saw her take the bottle from that man." Hannah pointed toward Thomas. "I can testify to that. I was there."

Her statement left everyone stunned.

Julianna’s eyes widened in disbelief.

That bitch! When did she see me take the bottle? I was careful the entire time.

She quickly wiped her tears and stared at Hannah with an expression of hurt.

"Hannah, how can you lie like this?" she asked in a trembling voice. "Why would you accuse me of something I didn’t do?"

"Cut the act, Julianna." Hannah’s voice hardened. "I’m not falling for it anymore."

She had watched Julianna play innocent for far too long, and she wasn’t going to stand by while Clara was blamed for something she hadn’t done.

"Officer, listen to me. She’s the one behind the poisoning," Hannah insisted. "You need to investigate her."

Meanwhile, Clara remained silent. She was relieved to have Hannah standing up for her, but when she glanced around the room, she noticed the confusion on everyone’s faces.

Some people looked uncertain about whom to believe.

Others simply watched the situation unfold without saying a word.

Clara took a slow breath.

"Fine." Everyone turned toward her. "If that’s what you want, I’ll hand myself over to the police."

Hannah immediately looked at her in confusion.

"Clara, you don’t have to—"

"It’s okay, Hannah." Clara gave her a reassuring look before turning toward the officer.

"But I have one condition."

The officer raised an eyebrow. "What condition?"

"I want you to call the number Thomas was speaking to." Her voice was firm. "Call the person he was talking to and see who answers."

That was the only thing Clara could think of that might prove she wasn’t responsible before she was taken in as a suspect.

Julianna’s eyes widened. "Clara, you—" She suddenly stopped. Her gaze had fallen on Dominic.

He was staring directly at her. His expression was unreadable, but there was something in his eyes that made the words die in her throat.

No... Her heart began pounding. No, this can’t be happening.

The confidence she had shown moments earlier disappeared. Fear slowly crept across her face.

The officer looked between Clara and Thomas before finally nodding.

"All right. But if this doesn’t lead us anywhere, Miss Clara, I’ll still have to take you in for questioning."

Clara nodded calmly. "I understand."

The officer took Thomas’s phone and dialed the number from his recent calls.

Everyone fell silent. The phone began ringing.

Once. Twice. Three times.

Every pair of eyes in the venue darted around, searching for the person whose phone would ring.

Then suddenly a ringtone echoed through the venue, leaving everyone froze.

Clara’s eyes widened.

Hannah turned sharply toward the sound.

Even the officer stopped moving.

"How is this possible?" someone whispered.

Clara and Hannah stared at each other, both completely stunned.

The ringtone was coming from a place—and a person—neither of them had expected.

"The culprit is Mr. Hayes."

Someone from the crowd finally spoke, breaking the stunned silence.

The words seemed to hit Vincent like a blow.

Not only Vincent, but his entire family stood frozen.

Vincent fumbled with his phone before hurriedly pulling it out of his pocket. The moment he saw the name flashing across the screen, his eyes widened in disbelief.

What in the world...

He stared at the screen as though it couldn’t possibly be real.

"I—I don’t know how this happened," Vincent stammered, looking around at everyone. "There must be some mistake."

But no one looked at him with sympathy anymore.

Instead, doubt filled their eyes.

Dominic’s gaze remained fixed on Vincent for a few seconds before he finally spoke.

"I think we’ve found our culprit."

Vincent’s face went pale.

"What?"

Dominic didn’t answer him. His eyes shifted toward the officer.

"Officer, you can proceed."

The officer immediately nodded and walked toward Vincent.

At the same time, two other officers approached Thomas.

The moment Thomas realized they were coming for him as well, he began struggling.

"Wait! Let go of me!"

The officers grabbed his arms.

"I told you the truth!" Thomas protested desperately. "I helped you find the real culprit, so why are you arresting me?"

"You’re still involved in the incident," one of the officers replied firmly. "You’ll have to answer some questions."

"But I told you everything!"

Thomas continued struggling, but the officers paid no attention to his protests.

They dragged him away as he desperately tried to convince them that he had nothing more to hide.

Meanwhile, Vincent stood completely still.

He was still struggling to process what had just happened.

His eyes slowly shifted toward Julianna and she immediately looked away.

That small reaction was enough to make his heart sink.

After everything he had done to defend her, she couldn’t even look him in the eyes.

"Mr. Hayes."

The officer’s voice pulled Vincent back to reality.

"You are under arrest on suspicion of involvement in the poisoning."

The handcuffs snapped around his wrists.

Only then did reality truly sink in.

"What...?"

Vincent stared at the handcuffs in disbelief.

Before he could say anything else, Dorothy finally recovered from her shock.

"Wait!"

She rushed forward and grabbed the officer’s arm.

"Where are you taking my husband?"

"Ma’am, please step back."

"No!" Dorothy shook her head frantically. "He’s innocent! You can’t just arrest him!"

"Mom..." Julianna whispered.

Dorothy ignored her.

"Let him go! My husband would never do something like this!"

The officer gently pulled his arm free.

"Ma’am, if Mr. Hayes is innocent, he’ll have an opportunity to prove it during the investigation. But right now, we have enough reason to take him in for questioning."

Dorothy stared helplessly as the officers began leading Vincent away.

For the first time, she had no words left to defend him.