“We need to decide what happens next.”
“I tell the police.”
“Yes, but carefully.”
“Carefully?”
“Richard’s legal team has already contacted the sheriff’s department.”
I stared at him.
“How?”
“He reported an aviation accident.”
Lena’s jaw tightened.
“What kind of accident?”
Daniel opened his laptop.
“According to Richard, the helicopter experienced sudden turbulence. He claims your safety harness failed and you fell before he could reach you.”
“He pushed me.”
“I believe you.”
“He opened the door himself.”
“I believe that too.”
“Then why are you speaking as if his story matters?”
“Because he prepared it before the flight.”
Daniel showed me a digital maintenance report submitted that morning. It noted a possible defect in the passenger harness and recommended replacement.
My signature appeared at the bottom.
It was not mine.
“He forged this,” I said.
“Or someone did for him.”
“Who had access?”
“Richard, the aviation manager, and your executive assistant.”
“Clara?”
Daniel nodded reluctantly.
Clara Bennett had worked for me for seven years. She knew my schedule, my passwords, and the details of my estate planning. She had also been the first person to congratulate me when I announced my pregnancy.
“Where is she?”
“She called in sick yesterday.”
I felt the room tilt.
Lena closed the laptop.
“That can wait.”
“No,” I said. “It cannot.”
“Your body has been through a trauma.”
“My entire life has been through a trauma.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“Amelia, Richard believes the search is still underway. He does not know you reached shore. That gives us a brief advantage.”
“What is he doing?”
“He returned to the estate.”
“Our house?”
“Yes.”
My stomach tightened.
“Why?”
“He met with two trustees and requested emergency authority over your personal holdings.”
“So quickly?”
“He claims critical business decisions cannot wait.”
The speed of it hurt almost as much as the betrayal itself. Richard had not gone home to grieve. He had gone home to collect.
“Did they grant it?”
“No. Your revised trust blocked him.”
Months earlier, I had changed the structure of my estate. In the event of my death or incapacity, control would pass temporarily to an independent committee. Richard would retain the house, personal funds, and a generous allowance, but he would gain no authority over Hayes Technologies.
The change had caused our worst argument.
He had accused me of treating him like an outsider.
I had apologized.
I wished now that I had not.
“What did he say when the trustees refused?” I asked.
Daniel’s expression changed.
“He said the revised documents were invalid because you were mentally unwell when you signed them.”
The words settled heavily.
“He planned for both outcomes.”
“It appears so.”
“If I died, he inherited what remained outside the trust. If I survived but accused him, he would claim I was unstable.”
Lena nodded.
“He built two stories.”
I looked down at my hands.
“What happens if I stay hidden?”
“Richard continues acting under the assumption that you are missing,” Daniel said. “We observe who contacts him, who moves money, and who helps support his account.”
“That sounds like using my death as bait.”
“It is dangerous,” Lena said. “Not physically, if security holds, but emotionally and legally.”
“My mother will hear I’m missing.”
Daniel hesitated.
“She already has.”
Pain moved through me.
My mother lived in Boston and had a heart condition. We spoke every Sunday. She had never trusted Richard, but she had accepted him for my sake.
“Tell her.”
“We would have to explain why she cannot contact anyone.”
