Whispers of Deception

Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty

L ilia sat at the dining room table, her hands clenched in her lap. The room was eerily quiet, save for the ticking of the clock on the wall and the soft rustling of papers as her mother leafed through the legal documents spread out in front of her. The air felt thick with tension, and Lilia’s heart raced in her chest, each beat echoing in her ears like a drum. Her mother, dressed impeccably in a tailored suit, finally looked up from the papers, her sharp eyes narrowing as they met Lilia’s. Across from her sat Mr. Leighton, one of her mother’s associates, an older man with thinning gray hair and a deeply furrowed brow. He had been their lawyer for years, but this was the first time that Lilia had ever felt the full weight of his gaze.

“I hope you understand the gravity of this situation, Lilia,” her mother said, her tone as cold as ice. There was no warmth, no comfort, just a hard edge that cut straight to Lilia’s core.

Lilia nodded, unable to find her voice. The events of the past few days felt like a whirlwind, spiraling out of control until she was barely even holding on. The leak audio, the accusations swirling around her and Augustus—it was all too much. She could feel herself sinking under the weight of it all, and sitting her under her mother’s scrutinizing gaze, only made it worse.

“I’m going to ask you this once,” Mr. Leighton said, his voice low and serious. “And I need you to be honest with me, Lilia. Is there any truth to what’s being suggested in that audio? Were you and Augustus involved in a way that would give anyone reason to believe you had a motive to harm Willow Montgomery?”

Lilia felt her face flush with a mix of frustration and embarrassment. She had dreaded this moment for months, kicked herself for what she did that night.

“No,” she said firmly. “Augustus and I had a fling, but it was over before any of this even started. It never went beyond that night—we had nothing to do with her death.”

Her mother leaned back in her chair, “And this audio? How do you explain that?”

“It’s out of context,” Lilia shook her head, “That audio was from an intimate moment with Gus and me, but it had nothing to do with Willow. Someone is framing us.”

“This is a delicate situation, Lilia.” Mr. Leighton ran a frustrated hand down his face. “The media is having a field day with this. We need to be careful about how we proceed.”

Lilia could feel the judgment and disappointment radiating from her mother. “You’ve put us in an impossible position,” she said quietly, “I warned you about getting involved with those people. I told you this would only lead to trouble, but you didn’t listen. And now look where we are.”

Lilia bit back the retort that clung to the edge of her tongue. She had heard this lecture a hundred times before, and now was not the time to get into another argument with her mother. She needed to focus, to think clearly about what needed to be done.

“What do we do now?” Lilia whispered.

Mr. Leighton sighed, holding his hands on the table. “First, we need to get ahead of this. We’ll issue a statement denying any involvement in Willow’s death and clarifying that the audio was taken out of context. But we also need to prepare for the possibility that the police will want to question you. You need to be ready for that, Lilia.”

Her mother nodded in agreement, her expression steely. “And you need to stay away from Augustus. For now, at least. You can’t afford to be seen with him, or any of your friends while this is all happening. It will only make things worse.”

“Okay,” she lied, “I’ll stay away from them.”

Her mother nodded, “Good. And Lilia, if there’s anything else that you haven’t told us, now is the time to speak up.”

Lilia shook her head. “There’s nothing else. Promise.”

All she could think about was the texts, the letters, the freaking hand that got delivered to their house.

Mr. Leighton stood, gathering his papers into his briefcase. “We’ll handle this, Lilia. But you need to be prepared for the worst. The media isn’t going to let this go easily, and the public is already forming their own conclusions. You need to be prepared for that.”

Lilia nodded, “I understand,” she said quietly.

Mr. Leighton left the room, the sound of the front door closing indicating his leave.

“You’ve disappointed me, Lilia,” she finally said, her voice low and clipped. “I thought you were smarter than this.”

She watched as her mother left the room, the sound of her footsteps echoing through the house.