My Future Self Called Never Choose Those Brothers Chapter 09

The man’s face was smeared with soot, and his hand still gripped a half-empty jug of gasoline.

I recognized him instantly-he was a distant nephew of Daisy’s mother.

In my past life, shortly after Dad’s fatal crash, this exact man had suddenly fled the city with a massive influx of cash, a detail I hadn’t thought twice about back then.

Now, every single piece of the puzzle clicked perfectly into place.

The guards pinned him ruthlessly to the floor, but he thrashed around, screaming desperately.

“I didn’t do anything! Mr. Shaw told me to come fetch some files!”

The entire corridor went completely silent at his words.

By the time Dad arrived, his face was so dark it looked like a thundercloud, and I finally let my tears fall as I clung to him.

“Dad… they really wanted to kill you.”

Dad looked down at me, his eyes filled with a profound, lingering terror rather than shock.

He reached out, wrapping his arms securely around me.

“Chloe, I believe you.”

The police arrived shortly after and took the arsonist into custody.

Although a portion of the physical surveillance drives had been scorched, I had already instructed the security team to back up every single feed to our private cloud server beforehand.

The digital footage clearly showed Adrian’s personal assistant escorting the man into the private garage, while Daisy’s mother handed him a thick envelope in the stairwell.

The evidence of a conspiracy to commit murder was flawless.

On the day Adrian and Brody were formally processed by the police, Dad and I walked into the station together.

Separated by a thick pane of glass, Adrian’s flawless composure was completely shattered, his voice cracking as he looked at me.

“Chloe, this is all a massive misunderstanding.”

Brody, however, glared at me with absolute terror leaking from his eyes.

“Chloe… you knew all along, didn’t you?”

I looked at them through the glass and let out a soft laugh.

“Yes, I knew. I knew you would try to murder my father, I knew you would tear the Winslow family apart, and I knew you would eventually stomp me into the dirt.”

Adrian’s face turned paper-white. “What the hell are you talking about?”

I offered no explanation, leaning in close to the glass to deliver my words with absolute finality.

“In my past life, I failed to save my father. In this life, you won’t touch a single hair on his head.”

Brody slammed his hands against the glass, screaming, “Chloe!” but the officers pinned him back into his chair instantly.

I turned on my heel and walked out of the room, leaving his desperate, echoing shrieks behind me.

“Chloe! Come back here!”

I didn’t look back; my father was alive, our empire was secure, and every ounce of misery that was meant for me was finally charting a course straight back to them.

Over the following weeks, the police uncovered every single fraudulent trade, embezzlement scheme, and corporate crime Adrian and Brody had committed under the Winslow name over the years.

Piece by piece, their entire lives were stripped raw in a court of law.

Adrian could no longer maintain his gentlemanly facade, his eyes completely bloodshot as he stared at me from the defense table.

“Chloe, I only did it because I was terrified of losing you.”

I smiled faintly at him.

“The only thing you were terrified of losing was the power the Winslow family handed to you.”

Brody received an even harsher sentence for his direct involvement, staring at me with pure venom before he was led away in handcuffs.

“Chloe, if Daisy had never shown up, we would never have become like this!”

I didn’t bother responding because he died without ever understanding the truth-it wasn’t Daisy who destroyed them; they were entirely rotten from the inside out.

As for Daisy, the charges of grand larceny, conspiracy, attempted arson, and attempted murder left her with absolutely no escape.

She wept bitterly in front of the judge, repeating that she was simply envious of my life, but the court cared nothing for her tears as they handed down her sentence.

Her mother was convicted as an accessory, with every hidden trace of their sabotage inside our home brought to light as state evidence.

On the day of the final sentencing, Daisy locked eyes with me across the crowded courtroom.

She had grown dangerously emaciated, the old arrogance completely drained from her hollow face.

“Chloe… I was wrong. Please.”

I stared back at her with absolute indifference.

“Don’t call my name. I don’t have a sister like you.”

Eventually, the names of Adrian Shaw and Brody Shaw vanished entirely from the high society of Bayview.

Daisy spent her days inside a state penitentiary completely unhinged, screaming to the bare walls that she was the true heiress of the Winslow fortune.

Meanwhile, I remained by Dad’s side, managing the Winslow empire with absolute precision.

Inside the grand estate that had been spared from the flames, spring arrived on schedule, covering the gardens in a sea of brilliant blossoms.

Standing in the warm sunlight, I looked down at my flawless, unbroken hands, remembering the broken woman who had spent her nights flipping burgers in a leaking diner.

I slowly closed my hand into a tight fist.

In this lifetime, I was finally done hurting.