Chapter 315 The Weight of the Past
No wonder Grace had asked Rose to come.
Rose had been one of the people directly involved. Someone had tried to frame her for the crash, and Grace wanted her in the room when everyone laid their cards on the table.
The accusation landed exactly as Rose expected.
Victoria went pale.
Almost instinctively, she reached for Derick’s arm.
She’d known this was coming.
Derick frowned.
"That’s a serious accusation, Daisy. Be careful."
Daisy glanced at Victoria clinging to him before turning back.
"I’m telling the truth."
Her voice was calm, almost cold.
"Think about it. Samantha was finally being welcomed back into the Taylor family, and suddenly someone tries to kill her. Who benefits from stopping that?"
Samantha looked at Victoria, tears shimmering in her eyes.
"I know you hate me."
Her voice barely rose above a whisper.
"My mother told me what happened all those years ago. It was because my biological mother took me away, and everything fell apart after that. You were never truly accepted into this family... and you lost your baby."
Victoria’s face tightened.
Samantha lowered her gaze.
"You hated my mother."
She looked up again.
"And you’ve hated me ever since."
The room fell silent.
Old wounds had a way of making everyone forget to breathe.
Rose stayed quiet.
She wasn’t about to interrupt.
Not yet.
Samantha continued.
"After the miscarriage, the doctors said you’d never have another child."
She met Victoria’s eyes.
"So tell me... who here has a stronger reason to want me gone?"
No one answered.
The story wasn’t exactly a secret.
Years ago, when Derick’s affair came to light, Victoria had shown up pregnant.
Sophia—still recovering after giving birth herself—had confronted them.
The argument spiraled out of control.
Sophia demanded a divorce.
Derick refused.
Somewhere in the chaos, Victoria was injured.
She lost the baby.
The damage was permanent.
Whether anyone remembered every detail hardly mattered.
Everyone remembered how it ended.
From the outside, Victoria had a motive.
Rose understood exactly what Samantha was doing.
She wasn’t proving anything.
She was building a narrative.
Piece by piece.
Samantha turned toward Rose.
"Everyone knows Rose and I don’t exactly get along."
A bitter smile crossed her face.
"So you used a G.S. company car. If someone wanted a suspect, Rose would’ve been the obvious choice."
Then she faced Victoria again.
"You know how my mother died. If I came back into this family, your life would’ve become a lot more complicated."
She held Victoria’s gaze.
"You were afraid I’d take your place... weren’t you?"
"I would never do that!"
Victoria’s voice cracked.
Tears spilled down her cheeks as she looked desperately at Grace.
"Please... you have to believe me."
Grace remained expressionless.
She didn’t say a word.
Derick looked trapped.
His newly found daughter stood on one side.
The woman who had spent more than twenty years beside him stood on the other.
Finally, he broke the silence.
"Maybe we’re getting ahead of ourselves."
He looked at Victoria.
"She’s not capable of something like this."
His voice softened.
"She’s always been kind. And considering her health..."
He shook his head.
"We shouldn’t assume the worst."
He looked around the room.
"Ryan’s already investigating what happened. Soon we’ll know whether someone tampered with the car or whether this was nothing more than a tragic accident."
After a pause, he added quietly, "I hoped we could settle this privately... for the family’s sake."
Samantha let out a short, humorless laugh.
Daisy immediately pushed back her chair.
"If this ends up with the police, there won’t be anything private about it."
She turned toward Rose.
"G.S. isn’t going to ignore someone sabotaging one of its vehicles."
Her eyes shifted back to Victoria.
"And if their investigation finds evidence..."
She let the sentence hang.
"...everyone will know."
She wasn’t wrong.
Rose had already made up her mind.
If someone had tampered with that car, she’d report it.
This wasn’t the kind of thing anyone simply swept under the rug.
What surprised her wasn’t Daisy’s accusation.
It was how aggressively she was forcing the issue.
Every sentence pushed the room toward the same conclusion.
Derick’s expression darkened.
If the police got involved, every ugly Chapter of the Taylor family’s history would become public.
The headlines would write themselves.
And if prosecutors treated it as attempted murder...
The scandal would follow the family for years.
Even Grace couldn’t stop that.
At that point, it almost didn’t matter whether Victoria was guilty.
Once the story got out, public opinion would do the rest.
This had stopped being a private family dispute the moment Rose became part of it.
Samantha and Daisy might persuade the Taylors to keep quiet.
They couldn’t expect Rose—or G.S.—to ignore an attempt to frame one of their own.
Only then did everything click.
Grace hadn’t invited Rose because she needed another witness.
Samantha and Daisy had.
Rose’s presence gave weight to their accusations.
If G.S. demanded answers, the family would have no choice but to respond.
Whether Victoria was actually guilty had become almost secondary.
Rose studied the mother and daughter.
Five minutes.
That was all it had taken for the room to erupt.
Neither side had come looking for peace.
They’d come looking to destroy the other.
"That’s enough."
Grace’s calm voice cut through the room.
She had remained composed the entire time.
Now everyone fell silent.
Her eyes lingered on Victoria’s tear-streaked face before settling on Rose.
"I’m sorry you’ve been pulled into this."
A brief pause.
"What do you think should happen?"
Every head turned toward Rose.
There would be no staying neutral now.
Rose met Grace’s gaze.
"G.S. won’t tolerate being framed."
Her voice was steady.
"If someone used one of our vehicles to set me up, we’ll pursue every legal option available."
Grace nodded once.
She had expected nothing less.
Samantha spoke immediately.
"I came tonight because I wanted to protect this family."
Tears rolled freely down her face.
"My mother died because of what happened back then."
She swallowed hard.
"And tonight... I almost died too."
The mention of Sophia hit the room like another blow.
Pain flashed across Derick’s face before he could hide it.
Victoria noticed.
She lowered her eyes, biting hard on her lip.
Even Grace’s expression softened.
She had known Sophia since she was a little girl.
Losing her had never stopped hurting.
When Grace finally spoke, her voice carried the quiet authority that had held the Taylor family together for decades.
"We follow the facts."
Her gaze moved from one face to the next.
"If someone in this family committed a crime, they’ll answer for it."
She paused. "Our reputation has never been more important than the truth."
The matter was settled.
There would be a real investigation.
No cover-up.
No exceptions.
For the first time that evening, uncertainty flickered across Samantha’s face.
She had expected Grace to protect the family.
Not to expose it.
The entire plan had been to force Victoria out of the Taylors once and for all.
But if the investigation proved Victoria innocent...
Everything could collapse.
A hurried knock broke the silence.
The housekeeper stepped inside.
"Mrs. Taylor," he said, "there’s someone here to see you."
Every head turned toward the foyer.
The front door opened.
A man walked in.