“If Mama didn’t take it, why are you afraid to watch the footage?”
Sinta did not immediately answer Arrabella’s question. Her lips were pressed tightly together, while both her hands clenched at her sides. The woman still tried to maintain her composure, but the look in her eyes had begun to reveal an unmistakable panic.
Nareswara noticed the change.
For the first time since coming down the stairs, the man did not immediately defend his mother. His gaze shifted from Sinta to Arrabella, then back to Sinta.
“Just watch the footage,” Nareswara said.
Sinta immediately turned to her son. “Nares, are you really going to let your wife humiliate Mama like this?”
“I just want to know what actually happened,” Nareswara replied flatly.
That answer made Sinta’s face turn even paler.
Arrabella turned around without saying anything else. She walked toward the small office beside the living room. Several servants followed behind her with hesitant steps.
Nareswara followed as well.
Sinta had no choice but to follow.
Once they reached the room, Arrabella sat in front of the computer connected to the hidden surveillance cameras installed in several corners of the house. She entered the password, opened the security system, and selected the footage from the camera pointed toward her bedroom.
“I last saw the jewelry this morning,” Arrabella said. “I put it in the box after attending the family event.”
She pointed at the screen.
Arrabella was clearly pleased. Earlier, when she first saw Sinta’s face, all of the original owner’s memories had surfaced at once.
Sinta had always been a terribly cruel mother-in-law. She had constantly treated the original Arrabella horribly. But the person standing here was no longer the Arrabella from before. Of course she would fight back against anything that harmed her!
She continued, “At around eleven in the morning, I left my room to meet a servant in the backyard. The jewelry was still there at that time.”
Nareswara stood behind her chair. “Then?”
Arrabella dragged the footage forward. “A few minutes after I left, someone entered the room.”
The screen showed the bedroom door opening. Someone walked inside.
Although the camera angle did not show the person’s face clearly, the woman’s clothes looked unmistakably familiar.
Sinta suddenly held her breath.
Arrabella stopped the footage. “Isn’t that Mama?”
The room instantly froze.
Sinta swallowed. “I... I did enter your room, but I wasn’t there to take the jewelry.”
Arrabella stared at her without blinking. “Then let’s keep watching.”
She pressed play again. In the footage, Sinta could be seen walking toward Arrabella’s vanity. The woman glanced toward the door several times, making sure no one was coming.
Then her hand moved to open one of the drawers.
Nareswara frowned.
Sinta began to panic. “Stop,” she pleaded.
Arrabella ignored her. The footage continued playing.
There, Sinta could be seen taking a black velvet box from inside the drawer. She opened it, revealing what was inside. A diamond necklace, a pair of earrings, and a bracelet that matched the jewelry set Arrabella had received as a wedding gift were clearly visible inside the box.
Nareswara’s eyes immediately widened.
Sinta put the necklace and bracelet into her bag. Then she took the remaining earrings.
Everything went into her bag.
And everyone there was certain it was Sinta because the bag in the CCTV footage was exactly the same as the one Sinta was carrying now.
Nareswara slowly turned toward his mother. “Mama? You stole my wife’s jewelry?”