Chapter 13 - THE WOMAN SERENA THOUGHT SHE BEAT
The police did not arrest Victor immediately.
That enraged half the room.
It relieved the other half.
Real investigations were slower than revenge stories.
Victor’s attorney arrived.
He advised silence.
The detectives seized the coat Victor had worn the night of the cliff from a Hale storage archive.
One cuff button missing.
Thread matched Elena’s button.
Again:
Contact.
Not shove.
The investigation widened.
Serena gave her phone voluntarily.
Then she asked Elena to speak privately.
They stood in a small library away from the guests.
For a while, neither woman spoke.
Finally Serena said:
“I knew he was married.”
Elena looked at her.
“I know.”
“I believed him when he said it was over.”
“Convenient.”
“Yes.”
Elena appreciated the answer.
Serena continued.
“He told me you were using the baby to control him.”
Elena laughed once.
“Of course.”
“He said you threatened to ruin the company.”
“I did say that.”
Serena looked surprised.
“I was furious. He had moved money without telling me.”
“So some of it was true.”
“That is why lies work.”
Serena started crying.
“I thought I won.”
Elena looked at her.
“What?”
“You.”
Serena wiped her face.
“I thought he chose me.”
The sentence was so small compared with attempted murder.
Yet Elena understood.
Victor built women into competitions.
One stable.
One unstable.
One loyal.
One difficult.
One future.
One obstacle.
Elena said:
“He chose himself.”
Serena looked at her.
That hurt worse.
Then Serena handed Elena the Post-Event Exit file.
“He was going to leave.”
“When?”
“If police reopened your case.”
“Without you?”
Serena nodded.
Elena looked at the beneficiary page.
No Serena.
No shared assets.
No future.
Only Victor.
Then she saw a transfer authorization signed by someone else.
Not Victor.
Not Serena.
A Hale Holdings officer.
Martin Hale.
Victor’s uncle.
Owen had never mentioned him.
Elena stared.
“Why is Martin on the exit structure?”
Serena shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Elena took the file to Owen.
He saw the signature.
His face changed immediately.
“What?”
Owen looked toward the ballroom where Victor was being escorted out for questioning.
Then back at Elena.
“The insurance structure that paid Victor fifty million…”
Elena waited.
May you like
Owen swallowed.
“Martin created it.”
