Victor had no beneficial ownership of it.
He could not inherit it through marriage, and he could not seize control by arranging my death.
The trust protected me specifically.
And if I had died before taking control of it, the protected interest would pass through the Ashford bloodline to my biological descendants under independent administration.
My child.
Not Victor.
Victor had tried to murder his pregnant wife for money he could never legally possess.
But Richard had saved the most devastating fact for last.
Victor shook his head.
“This is absurd.
Elena is dead.”
Richard looked directly at Serena.
“No,” he said.
“She isn’t.”
Serena made a sound like she had forgotten how to breathe.
Victor stared at Richard.
“What?”
“Elena was rescued from the mountain.”
The chapel erupted in whispers.
Victor’s face turned gray.
Richard continued before he could interrupt.
“She survived.
And so did her child.”
Serena stood so abruptly that the pew struck the floor behind her.
Victor turned on her.
“Sit down.”
She didn’t.
For the first time, everyone in that chapel saw the difference between grief and panic.
Victor had spent days rehearsing the face of a bereaved husband.
He had never rehearsed what to do when his dead wife came back to life.
He tried to recover.
“If Elena is alive, then thank God.
Obviously there’s been a terrible misunderstanding.”
Richard’s expression hardened.
“You removed her phone.”
Victor’s mouth closed.
“You left her injured in a blizzard.”
“That’s not what happened.”
“Then explain it to the police.”
Two investigators who had been waiting outside entered the chapel.
Victor looked toward Serena.
That was his next mistake.
He didn’t look shocked to see investigators.
He looked furious at her.
Serena saw it.
Whatever loyalty had held their plan together ended in that moment.
She began talking before Victor could stop her.
“It was his idea.”
Victor snapped, “Serena.”
She backed away from him.
“You said there wouldn’t be a body.
You said nobody could prove anything.”
The chapel became silent again.
Victor stared at her with naked hatred.
Serena kept talking.
Once she started, fear did the rest.
