My Sister Stole My Husband, My Son, and My Medal Chapter 04

My Sister Stole My Husband, My Son, and My Medal Chapter 04

The public saw the gaps.

My chain of evidence was more complete than Cress’s. My account of the investigation actually made sense.

Cress, meanwhile, looked untouched. Perfect makeup. Smooth skin. Not a scar in sight. She didn’t look like a woman who had spent three years fighting for her life inside a criminal organization.

Complaints flooded the department. People demanded that Cress be fired. They demanded that the State Medal of Valor be returned to the person who had actually earned it.

I thought the truth would finally get me reinstated.

Then Cress started a livestream.

She faced the camera in tears.

“Romilly Calder is my own sister. Out of love for my family, I never wanted to expose her. But now she’s twisting the truth and trying to steal my work, so I have no choice but to tell everyone what really happened.”

“I spent three years undercover inside that trafficking ring. I risked my life to collect the evidence that brought them down. Romilly had been working with those criminals all along. She helped them steal my complete case file.”

Mom held up photographs of me laughing with the head of the trafficking ring while I was undercover. In her other hand was my state ID.

“I can testify to it. Romilly has been involved with that organization for years. I have plenty of pictures of her with its leader.”

“She betrayed her badge. She’s a disgrace to the Calder family.”

Odette dabbed at her eyes and joined in.

“I’m Romilly’s best friend, and I can testify too. I saw money from the organization transferred into her accounts more than once.”

“I also caught her coming out of the ringleader’s bedroom several times with her clothes half off…”

I stared at the livestream, each lie cutting deeper than the last.

I posted the truth again and again, but no one saw it. My comments vanished beneath tens of thousands of attacks.

[Romilly Calder is shameless. Who steals credit from her own sister?]

[She’s disgusting. How was someone like her ever allowed to carry a badge? GPD needs to fire that bitch now.]

[Firing her isn’t enough. She worked for criminals, which makes her one of them. Lock her up.]

My phone lit up.

I closed the livestream and opened the message from the department with shaking hands.

[Romilly Calder, your employment has been terminated effective immediately.]

[Your law-enforcement certification has also been permanently revoked.]

I stared at the message until the words blurred.

My badge was gone.

My career was gone.

Everything I had left was gone.

I had continued investigating after the department ordered me to stop. There was no official record proving that my contact with the trafficking ring had been part of an investigation rather than a criminal partnership.

Now my family and closest friend were all calling me a traitor.

Who would believe that parents could frame their own daughter?

There was no one left who would believe me.

When I finally looked up, a familiar figure was stumbling toward me.

Stellan stopped in front of me and gently wiped away my tears.

“Romy, don’t be afraid.”

“I’ve studied your case carefully. If you turn yourself in now and cooperate, I can negotiate a reduced sentence. Cress just received a major commendation. If she speaks on your behalf, that’ll help too.”

“You’d serve eight years at most. I’ll be there when you get out. I’ll convince your parents and Cress, and then we can all live together as a family.”

My hands went cold around the phone.

I had sacrificed everything for this case and for the justice I still believed in.

I hadn’t done anything wrong.

Why should I spend eight years in prison?

I shoved Stellan away and ran.

I ran until I reached Ridgeway Towers, an abandoned high-rise on the edge of Glenmarrow. Then I started climbing.

Hundreds of feet above the street, I started a livestream.

Hateful comments raced across the screen. I smiled into the camera.

“I wrote down everything I did during this investigation. Every piece of evidence matches my account, and every scar on my body tells the same story.”

“I’m willing to prove my innocence with my life.”

I closed my eyes and…

Let myself fall backward off the roof.

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