"I'm not afraid to die, Madam," the man in black sneered, his chilling smile widening. "For a woman who killed her own daughter-in-law, killing me would be nothing, I'm sure." š£
What is he saying? Yugh's heart hammered against his ribs, a sickening weight crushing his chest.
"Shut your mouth!" his mother hissed, her voice a venomous whisper Yugh had never heard before. "Watch your tongue and lower your voice. That secret will go to the grave with you. I already paid you $150,000 for that." š”
"Madam, for a secret to stay buried forever, I need another hundred thousand," the man demanded, his tone greedy and final.
Acting on pure instinct, Yugh pulled out his phone, his hands trembling violently. He switched on the video recorder, aiming it through a gap in the foliage, capturing the damning exchange. šø
"You fool! Do you want to go to hell? You don't know who you're dealing with," his mother spat, her composure cracking.
"Madam, then everyone will find out. You hired me to find out where your daughter-in-law, Miss Zahra, was going. You told me to cut the brake line of the car she was using!" the man declared, his voice rising with the confession. š¬
The words slammed into Yugh like a physical blow. Fragments of the police inspector's report flashed in his mind, the inconclusive investigation, the suspicion of foul play in Zahra's fatal accident. It was all connecting in a horrifying web.
His hands shook, but he kept recording. šµ
"I had my reasons!" his mother cried out, her voice now ragged with a desperate, twisted justification. "She was having a secret affair! She was carrying another man's child! She was going to destroy our Singh family name, ruin our business, leave us destitute in the street! I had no other choice!"
As Yugh watched, paralyzed with horror, he saw his mother, the woman who had raised him, pull out a cheque and extend it toward the blackmailer. It was an admission of guilt, a transaction to bury a murder, happening in broad daylight just meters from their home. The foundation of his entire world had just collapsed into a pit of unspeakable darkness. š®āšØ