Chapter 5
Nora was arrested before midnight.
Her family tried to stop it.
Her father threatened lawyers.
Her mother fainted dramatically.
Her brother shouted that I was ruining a respected family.
Detective Harris simply read the warrant.
Assault.
Child abuse.
False imprisonment.
Evidence tampering.
Possible attempted murder.
Nora stared at me as officers cuffed her.
“You loved me,” she whispered.
“No,” I said. “I loved the lie you wore.”
She flinched.
Good.
At the hospital, Lily slept with the locket in one hand and my sleeve in the other.
I sat beside her bed, staring at the video again and again.
Amelia’s face was pale.
Nora’s hand steady.
The teacup lifted.
The image shook.
Then another voice entered.
A man’s voice.
“Make sure Victor signs the estate transfer before he grieves too clearly.”
My blood went cold.
I knew that voice.
My father.
Edmund Cross.
Dead for two years.
Still reaching from the grave.
I called my attorney, Grace Monroe.
She arrived at 3:00 a.m.
When she heard the recording, she said only one word.
“God.”
I looked at her.
“What estate transfer?”
She hesitated.
“Victor, after Amelia died, your father executed documents moving your wife’s inheritance into a family trust.”
“My family trust?”
“No.”
May you like
Her eyes were grim.
“Nora’s.”
