As the family gathered around the dining table, the room was filled with a mix of anticipation and tension. Isabelle couldn't take her eyes off John, wondering how he, once so proud and powerful, had ended up a broken man. The question burned in her mind, and finally, unable to hold back any longer, she leaned forward with a steady gaze.
"John, how did you end up this way? How did everything fall apart?" She began, her voice soft but curious.
John hesitated with his eyes flickering toward his sister but it was Rachel who spoke first and her face clouded with regret. She took a deep breath, her voice laced with guilt as she speaks.
"I was so wrong, Isabelle. I trusted Emily… it's like she had cast some kind of spell over me. She came into our lives, claiming she'd lost her parents abroad . Said they'd left her a fortune, ten times what Thomas had ever accumulated. I was blinded by the promises she made." Rachel explained.