Chapter 581

His words left everyone in the room stunned.

All eyes turned to Preston Valentine.

Evelyn Ross raised an eyebrow.

She had been about to speak, but Preston had beaten her to it.

Well then, let's hear what this fifth brother has to say.

She looked at Preston, thinking he had finally brought his brain with him today.

Good.

Susan Langley's eyes widened in disbelief. "Preston, what... what did you say?"

Preston took a deep breath, his face dark as he stared at her, enunciating each word clearly. "Apologize to Joanna."

Susan immediately shrieked, "Preston! Have you lost your mind? She's the one who poisoned Third Uncle! Why should I apologize?!"

Preston let out a bitter laugh. "Susan, do you really think we're all fools? If someone hired a person to poison someone, would they pay after the fact? Joanna isn't stupid. Transferring money afterward—what kind of logic is that? Was she afraid she wouldn't be caught?"

Susan frowned deeply. "She was caught yesterday and locked up here! She probably had no chance to communicate with her accomplice! Besides, for something like poisoning, of course you do the deed first and get paid later! What if she took a deposit and then backed out?"

Preston smiled coldly. "Right. So I hire you to poison someone, give you nothing upfront, and just let you do the job. Then you get caught. Knowing full well you're detained by the Valentine family, I specifically transfer money to you, terrified I won't leave any evidence behind. Is that it?"

Susan choked, stubbornly insisting, "Then... then maybe the other party had a falling out with her! Maybe they just wanted her to take the blame!"

Preston looked at her, his eyes filled with disappointment. "How utterly stupid would that other party have to be, Susan? As long as no money is transferred, there's no evidence. Do you know that this one million dollars can be traced back to its source?"

Susan paused. "Maybe it was just—"

"Enough!" Preston cut her off sharply. "I said enough!"

Susan immediately fell silent, her eyes instantly reddening. "Preston, I never thought you'd believe her over me! I was only interrogating her for Third Uncle's sake! She admitted it herself just now!"

She yanked the maid, Liu Qian, forward. "You tell him! Didn't she confess just now? Why won't you believe it?"

Preston turned a cold gaze toward Liu Qian.

Liu Qian swallowed nervously, trembling as she said, "Y-yes..."

Preston's voice grew even colder. "Do you know that giving false testimony is illegal?"

Liu Qian shuddered all over, instinctively looking at Susan.

Susan glared at her fiercely.

Liu Qian immediately spoke up, "I'm not giving false testimony! Everything I said is true! Joanna admitted it just now!"

Susan turned back to Preston. "Preston, did you hear that? The one lying is Joanna!"

Preston looked at her and heaved a heavy sigh.

He suddenly spoke, "Susan, do you know why, even though we suspected Joanna last night, we still treated her politely and only locked her in this room?"

Susan was taken aback. "Why else? The Valentine family is a righteous family. You didn't want to mistreat a servant, right?"

The Valentine family is a righteous family?

Evelyn almost laughed out loud hearing this.

Marcus Valentine was famously known as the troublemaker of New York.

A man like that, righteous?

Moreover, in the few days she had been back, she had already discovered that while the Valentines seemed clever on the surface, each of them had real skills.

Ethan Valentine had extremely high achievements in martial arts.

Spencer Valentine attended the top university in the country, majoring in physics.

As for Preston... well, this one might actually be a bit foolish.

She shook her head slightly, looking at Preston with a trace of pity in her eyes.

Preston obviously also found this answer ridiculous. "No matter how righteous we are, we wouldn't show righteousness to a suspect who poisoned Third Uncle. Susan, we locked her here for two reasons. First, we didn't want to wrong an innocent person. Second—because this room has surveillance."

Susan's pupils contracted sharply. "What?! That's impossible!"

She immediately looked around the room.

Before entering, she had carefully checked the outside and hadn't seen any signs of surveillance.

Besides, this was a Valentine guest room. Why would there be surveillance?

Preston stated directly, "Do you know why this guest room has been unused for so long? Everyone in the Valentine family who makes a mistake is locked here. We want to see what they do during the night! Everything Joanna did last night, whether she contacted anyone outside, is clearly recorded on the surveillance!"

He took a step forward. "The Valentine family doesn't detain servants arbitrarily. Last night was merely a test for Joanna! To prove whether she actually committed a crime or not! If she contacted the outside world, even if she made one phone call or sent one message, the surveillance would have caught it! Did you really think the Valentine family just locked her up for the night and did nothing?"

Susan swallowed hard.

She took two steps back. "Preston, don't try to scare me! How could this room possibly have surveillance? Even if it does, I'm not afraid! Joanna admitted it just now!"

Susan's demeanor made Preston sigh deeply.

He knew she wouldn't believe it until she saw the evidence.

With resignation, Preston grabbed Susan's arm and pulled her out of the bathroom, pointing at the mirror in the bedroom.

Seeing Susan still didn't believe him, he stepped forward and directly opened the mirror.

A hidden surveillance camera was revealed, its tiny light blinking.

Preston pointed at the camera. "Susan, see? Do I need to go to the surveillance room and pull up the footage for you?"

Susan's pupils dilated violently. She staggered backward.

"H-how is this possible?!"