Chapter 9 - THE MAN WHO CAME BACK
Ambrose returned to Chicago the next morning.
Not because he was brave.
Because running made him look guilty.
He arrived with attorneys.
He denied everything.
Then offered to cooperate.
Men like him loved cooperation when they controlled the questions.
Police interviewed him for six hours.
He admitted paying Victoria.
Called it consulting.
Admitted meeting Dad.
Called it restructuring.
Denied poison.
Denied coercion.
Denied touching me.
Then detectives showed him a photograph from the bedroom.
His fingerprints on my torn necklace.
He said I had attacked him.
Then they showed him blood beneath one fingernail.
Mine.
His attorney ended the interview.
Ambrose walked out.
Still not arrested.
I wanted to scream.
Daniel said.
“They’re building it.”
“I’m tired of building.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
He went quiet.
I regretted it.
Didn’t apologize.
Not yet.
That night, someone broke into Daniel’s penthouse.
Nothing valuable was taken.
Only Dad’s original letter.
Except Daniel had locked it in a bank vault.
The thief took a photocopy.
Which meant they did not know.
That was our first advantage.
Security caught the intruder leaving.
A woman.
My stepsister.
Madison.
Victoria’s biological daughter.
Twenty-one.
The person who had spent years telling me Victoria was “hard on me because she cared.”
Madison cried in the interview room.
“Mom said you were destroying us.”
I stared.
“She locked me in a room.”
“I know.”
That hurt more than I expected.
“You knew?”
Madison looked down.
“I knew about Ambrose.”
“How much?”
“She said you were going to marry him.”
My stomach twisted.
“And you believed that?”
“She said you agreed.”
I laughed.
Madison flinched.
Then whispered.
“I heard you screaming.”
The room disappeared for a second.
“You heard me?”
She nodded.
“Why didn’t you open the door?”
Tears ran down her face.
“Because Mom told me if I helped you, she’d cut me off too.”
I stood.
Daniel moved, then stopped himself.
Good.
I looked at Madison.
“You left me in there for money.”
She covered her face.
Then said something I did not expect.
May you like
“I have the original will.”
