Chapter 5 - The Price of a Husband
Vivian rose with blood on her wedding dress.
Edmund grabbed her wrist.
“Don’t.”
“She’ll kill you.”
“She’ll kill you after she gets it.”
Vivian looked toward the warehouse floor.
Smoke hung between containers.
Teresa waited somewhere beyond it.
Vivian removed the necklace.
Edmund’s eyes hardened.
“Vivian.”
“Trust me.”
She walked out.
Teresa emerged.
“Smart girl.”
Vivian held up the necklace.
“My husband leaves alive.”
“Your husband?”
Teresa smiled.
“That changed quickly.”
“So did my opinion of his family.”
Antonio almost laughed from behind cover.
Teresa extended her hand.
Vivian approached.
One step.
Two.
Three.
Then she threw the necklace into the harbor.
Teresa screamed.
Every head turned.
Luca fired at the lights.
Darkness.
Edmund had taught Vivian nothing about combat.
But her mother had taught her to swim when she was five.
Vivian ran.
Not toward the exit.
Toward the water.
She jumped.
Cold darkness swallowed her.
The necklace sank beneath her.
She followed the faint ruby glint.
Her fingers closed around it.
Above, gunfire echoed.
Vivian surfaced beneath the pier.
Someone grabbed her.
She almost screamed.
Elena.
“Quiet.”
Her mother pulled her behind a support beam.
“You planned that?”
“No.”
“Good improvisation.”
Vivian stared at her.
“You’re complimenting me now?”
“I’ve missed eleven years.”
“Then you have a lot of work to do.”
They climbed a maintenance ladder.
When they returned, police sirens approached.
Teresa’s men were fleeing.
Edmund was conscious.
Vivian ran to him.
“You threw the ledger into the ocean.”
“I retrieved it.”
He stared at her.
Then laughed despite the pain.
“You’re terrifying.”
“You married me.”
“Yes.”
For the first time, neither statement felt like a sentence.
It felt like a choice.
Teresa escaped before police arrived.
But the ledger survived.
Over the next two days, copies were sent to federal investigators, attorneys, and journalists.
People were arrested.
Accounts frozen.
Victor confessed to financial crimes and cooperation with Teresa.
Antonio agreed to testify.
Elena did too.
Vivian stayed beside Edmund at the hospital.
On the third morning, he woke to find her sleeping in a chair.
“You stayed.”
She opened her eyes.
“Don’t sound so surprised.”
“Our marriage contract is invalid.”
That woke her completely.
“What?”
“Victor lacked authority to pledge the company. Your grandfather placed the shares in a trust years ago.”
“So I’m free?”
“Yes.”
Edmund said it quietly.
Vivian stared at him.
He reached toward the bedside drawer.
Inside were annulment papers.
Already signed.
“You signed them.”
“You should have the choice you didn’t have before.”
Something tightened in her throat.
“And if I choose to leave?”
“I’ll make sure you’re protected.”
“And if I choose to stay?”
For the first time, Edmund Costa looked uncertain.
“I’d ask why.”
Vivian leaned closer.
“Maybe because my husband took a bullet.”
“I’ve taken bullets before.”
“Maybe because he gave me my freedom.”
“That should be normal.”
“Maybe because he’s less horrible than I expected.”
“Romantic.”
She smiled.
Then the hospital door opened.
Luca entered.
His expression erased the moment.
“We have a problem.”
Edmund sat straighter.
“Teresa?”
“No.”
Luca handed Vivian a phone.
A message had arrived from Victor.
But Victor was in federal custody.
The message contained a photograph.
It showed Elena entering a car outside the courthouse that morning.
The driver’s face was hidden.
Underneath were six words.
YOUR MOTHER NEVER CAME BACK ALONE.
A second image loaded.
The driver turned toward the camera.
Vivian recognized him from an old family portrait.
May you like
Her grandfather.
The man who had been declared dead before Vivian was born.
