Nina was relieved that neither Jelena nor Mira had eaten that green truffle.

Otherwise, she would have been done for, with no place to hide.

Initially, she wanted to give Jelena a scare and make her sick with a bout of food poisoning. But upon hearing it could lead to death, fear consumed her. She didn't want to bear the label of a murderer, knowing fully well that it was wrong.

Despite her disdain for Jelena, it didn't justify taking her life.

Her teacher had always said no one had the right to take another person's life.

She sure didn't want to see her mom handcuffed and taken away by the cops.

If their secret was out, her mom would be ruined, maybe even face death.

Sure, her mom had made mistakes, but Nina loved her. She couldn't let her mom die, nor could she stand the thought of her mother being locked up, never to see her again.

"Do you guys think the cops can catch the real killer?" Nina asked.

"Absolutely," Skyler nodded confidently, "Forensic technology these days is super advanced. They've got all sorts of high-tech stuff to help the cops nab the bad guys." Hearing this, Nina tensed up. Would the cops find out it was the chocolate? Would they track it back to her? In another room, Aurelia lounged on the couch, scrolling through her feed, while Leopold peeled a grapefruit for her.

"There's a murder case trending online. I passed by the palm grove this afternoon and saw this jerk roughing up his wife with his mistress. He was brutal without respect for their marriage at all. Deserves to pay." Leopold handed her a juicy grapefruit segment, "Going down with him isn't the answer, though." Aurelia shrugged nonchalantly, "True. No use risking life. A silent chemical castration would do the trick." Leopold chuckled nervously, "You have quite the imagination." With a teasing smirk, Aurelia quipped, "Your wife is a tough cookie. Scared yet?" He raised an eyebrow, "Why should I be scared? I'm a one-in-a-million kind of guy, pure as the driven snow and loyal to a fault." Aurelia gave him a playful side-eye, "So, I've struck gold?" "Yeah, a treasure, though you don't seem to appreciate it much." Leopold darkened his mood, recalling their morning spat.

She pinched his cheek, marveling at his smooth skin. "If I didn't value you, why would I take you back after being dumped twice, and even reconcile?" That soothed Leopold a bit, knowing she cback partly for Kane, not entirely for love. Still, he believed that one day he would eclipse Arnold in her heart.

The next morning, everyone got up early to go tide pooling. The receding tide left all sorts of marine creatures stranded amidst the rocks.

Each kid carried a little bucket and a pair of tongs, catching starfish, sea urchins, hermit crabs...

Nina, haunted by nightmares, yawned frequently from lack of sleep.

Arnold caught a hefty crab for his son, William, who was beside himself with joy.

"Dad, I want to take it hfor the aquarium." "Sure." Mira looked on enviously, "Uncle Arnold, I want a big crab too." Fredric patted Mira's head, saying gently, "No need to ask your uncle, I'll catch one for you." He needed to impress Jelena and show her he could be a good father. Soon enough, he snagged a crab. It was small, but Mira was thrilled.

In the distance, two police officers approached.

According to the victim's wife, before the man succumbed to poisoning, he had eaten chocolate given to him by a little girl.

With no cameras in the palm grove but snearby, the cops checked the footage and traced it to Nina.

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