Chapter 11 - The Truth About My Wife's Last Night
Caleb survived.
The bullet missed his heart by inches.
The shooter didn't.
Marcus caught him at the property line.
Under interrogation, he gave us Victor's final safe house.
But I wanted the truth first.
Elena's mother finally told us everything.
Hannah had been conscious.
She knew she was dying.
She had handed over the music box.
Then she removed her wedding ring.
Inside its hollow inner band was a tiny storage chip.
Evidence against Victor.
But before Elena's mother could take it, Victor entered.
Hannah hid the ring.
Where?
Nobody knew.
Victor had spent three years searching.
The ring he possessed was a replica.
So was mine.
Then Noah walked into the room carrying his teddy bear.
Hannah's old gift.
I stared at it.
Something Noah loved.
I took the bear gently.
Inside the stitched paw was a ring.
The real ring.
Elena gasped.
I opened its hidden compartment.
The chip was still there.
Victor's entire network.
Names.
Accounts.
Murders.
Including Hannah's.
The crash had been ordered by Victor.
But the driver was not supposed to kill Hannah.
He was supposed to force her car off the road and retrieve the evidence.
Noah had been in the back seat unexpectedly.
Victor proceeded anyway.
That was why Hannah died.
That was why Noah stopped speaking.
He had seen everything.
I sat on the floor.
For years, I had believed my life killed her.
In a way, it had.
Elena sat beside me.
"Hannah chose to fight him."
"Because of me."
"Because of Noah."
That mattered.
Not enough to erase guilt.
Enough to keep breathing.
We copied the chip.
Three backups.
Three locations.
Then sent one to prosecutors.
Victor's empire was finished.
But Victor remained free.
At midnight my phone rang.
His voice.
"You took everything."
"You took my wife."
"Then we're even."
"No."
I looked toward Noah sleeping beside Elena.
"We'll never be even."
Victor laughed.
Then said:
"Check your front gate."
The camera feed appeared.
A black car waited outside.
May you like
Its rear door opened.
And Raymond Hale stepped out wearing Hannah's real necklace.
