Chapter 6
The pool house door burst open.
Victor stumbled in with blood on his sleeve, but he was standing.
Behind him, two estate security guards tackled Caleb near the patio.
Police sirens screamed at the gates.
I clutched Ethan so tightly Victor had to say my name twice.
“Lily. He’s safe.”
I looked at his arm.
“You’re hurt.”
“Not badly.”
But his face was white.
Dr. Mercer appeared behind him, holding the laptop against his chest.
“I kept the drive.”
Serena screamed from the garden as officers forced her into handcuffs.
“This is not over, Victor!”
Victor did not even look at her.
He came to Ethan and kissed his forehead.
Then he looked at me.
“You saved him.”
My eyes burned.
“I almost didn’t.”
“You did.”
At the hospital, doctors confirmed my ribs were bruised but not broken.
Victor had a cut from broken glass.
Ethan had no new injuries, but he would not let go of my finger.
A detective named Grace Monroe arrived before sunrise.
She interviewed everyone separately.
When she came to me, I gave her my notebook.
Every page.
Every date.
Every small detail I had been afraid would sound foolish.
Grace read quietly.
Then she looked up.
“This is not foolish.”
I cried then.
I hated that I cried in front of her.
She handed me a tissue.
“People like Serena depend on everyone dismissing small signs.”
Victor heard that from the doorway.
His face tightened with shame.
After the detective left, he came in slowly.
“May I sit?”
I nodded.
He sat beside my hospital bed.
“I owe you more than thank you.”
“You owe Ethan protection.”
“I know.”
His voice cracked.
“I thought giving him a mother again would heal him.”
I looked toward the crib where Ethan slept.
“He had a mother.”
Victor closed his eyes.
“I know.”
“And he had you.”
“I wasn’t enough.”
“You were grieving.”
“That’s not an excuse.”
“No,” I said softly. “But it is a wound.”
He looked at me then, like he had not expected kindness.
Before he could answer, Grace returned.
“We found ValeBridge Holdings.”
Victor stood.
“What is it?”
“A shell company,” she said. “Serena, Caleb, and another partner used it to siphon money from Emily Hale’s trust.”
“Another partner?”
Grace looked at me.
Then at Victor.
“Your family attorney. Nathan Price.”
Victor gripped the chair.
Nathan had been with his family for twenty years.
He handled Emily’s estate.
He had approved Serena’s prenup.
He had told Victor not to worry about small trust details.
Grace continued.
“We also found draft adoption papers for Ethan.”
My stomach turned.
Victor whispered, “Adoption?”
“Serena planned to marry you, adopt Ethan, then challenge control of the trust as his legal mother.”
Victor looked at his sleeping son.
“And if I found out?”
Grace hesitated.
“Caleb had life insurance documents prepared on you.”
The room went cold.
Victor sat down hard.
May you like
Serena had not only wanted Ethan’s money.
She had wanted Victor gone.
