Chapter 12 - The Woman Who Refused to Stay Dead)
Richard did not leave California.
Evelyn had taken the archive drive and vanished without him. His private accounts were frozen before sunrise, and every airport received his real name, Adrian Conrad Wren. He hid inside an unfinished tower owned by Asterion while news of Rose’s birth spread across the country.
Three days later, Amelia entered Hartwell Coastal headquarters with a bandage on her calf and her father’s ring on her hand.
Rose remained at a guarded clinic with Lena, Tomas, and Elena. Amelia hated leaving her for even an hour, but this return belonged to both of them.
The boardroom was filled with reporters. Detective Cross stood near the doors. Gabriel connected Jace’s copy of the cabin recording to every screen in the building.
Amelia faced the cameras.
“Richard Vale told the world that I fell,” she said. “He told my colleagues that I was unstable. He used my presumed death to steal a company, protected land, and the future of my child. Today you will see what happened.”
The recording began with Richard kissing her forehead.
It showed him guiding her toward the open door. It captured his hands pressing against her back. It showed Amelia falling and Richard watching without reaching for her. Then his voice came through the cabin intercom.
“Turn south. Follow the body until it sinks.”
No one in the room moved when the video ended.
The board voted unanimously to reverse the Asterion sale and restore Amelia’s authority. Cross announced charges of attempted murder, conspiracy, fraud, and kidnapping. Jace agreed to testify in exchange for consideration at sentencing.
Amelia should have felt victorious. Instead she watched the service elevator indicator descend from the locked executive floor.
Someone was inside the building.
The lights flickered. Gabriel received an alert from the roof access alarm.
“Richard,” Amelia said.
Cross ordered officers toward the stairs, but a fire door dropped between them. Richard emerged from the service elevator behind Amelia. He wrapped one arm around her and pressed a gun beneath her ribs.
The reporters saw him. So did every live camera.
His face was unshaven, his clothes wrinkled. The wealthy husband who had commanded rooms now looked like a hunted man held together by rage.
“Tell them the video is false,” he said.
Amelia stared into the nearest camera. “My husband wants me to lie for him again.”
He tightened his grip. “You think they can protect Rose?”
Her fear was instant and absolute, but she did not give it to him. “You do not know where she is.”
“Evelyn does.”
He forced Amelia into the elevator and selected the roof. Gabriel reached the doors as they closed. His fingers missed by inches.
On the roof, a helicopter waited with its rotors turning. Richard pushed Amelia across the rain-slick concrete toward it.
The same aircraft. The same open door.
Jace had hidden the cabin recording inside its flight computer, and Richard had returned to destroy it before fleeing. He had not expected the board meeting to begin early.
“There is nowhere to go,” Amelia shouted over the rotors.
“There is always somewhere if you own the pilot.”
The man in the cockpit wore a Wren Security uniform. Richard shoved Amelia into the rear seat and climbed beside her. This time he searched beneath her coat.
“No parachute,” he said.
“You sound disappointed.”
The helicopter lifted above the tower.
Police flooded the roof below, unable to fire. Gabriel stood at the edge, watching the aircraft turn toward the coast.
Richard took Amelia’s phone and threw it through the open door.
May you like
He never noticed the small red light beneath her father’s ring.
Bluebird was transmitting every word.
