Chapter 9 - ELENA’S POLICY
Alexander had never touched Elena’s life insurance.
Not one dollar.
After her death, he had placed the payout into a protected family account.
Or so he thought.
He looked at David.
“Check it.”
David was already typing.
Veronica stared at the floor.
Alexander’s chest tightened.
“Look at me.”
She didn’t.
“Veronica.”
Slowly, she raised her eyes.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
Vincent laughed from across the room.
“Still lying.”
An officer told him to be quiet.
David pulled up the account records.
His expression changed.
“Alexander.”
“What?”
“The account was closed eighteen months ago.”
Alexander felt the room tilt.
“What do you mean closed?”
“The balance was transferred.”
“To where?”
David scrolled.
“A holding company.”
“What company?”
“Hale Residential Investments.”
Alexander looked at Veronica.
Her maiden name again.
“How much?”
David answered quietly.
“Two point seven million.”
Sofia’s fingers tightened around his.
Alexander stared at his wife.
“You stole from Elena too.”
Veronica jumped to her feet.
“I invested it!”
The officers looked at her.
She realized too late what she had said.
David went very still.
Alexander’s voice dropped.
“You invested money that wasn’t yours?”
“I was protecting this family.”
“From what?”
“From you!”
He almost laughed.
“Me?”
“You throw money at everything! Businesses, charities, employees, Sofia—”
“Don’t put her into this.”
“She gets everything!”
Sofia flinched.
Veronica pointed toward her.
“Everything revolves around that girl.”
Alexander stepped between them.
“Enough.”
“No! I’m done being quiet.”
“You have never been quiet.”
“I married a man who was still in love with a dead woman!”
“And your response was to rob her daughter?”
“She wasn’t supposed to find out!”
There it was.
The sentence hung in the room.
Veronica covered her mouth.
Too late.
David looked at the officers.
“I think you heard that clearly.”
Veronica’s face twisted.
“I didn’t mean—”
Alexander walked away from her.
For the first time that night, he looked tired.
Not angry.
Tired.
“Sofia.”
She looked at him.
“Go upstairs with Rosa.”
“No.”
“I need you away from this conversation.”
She hesitated.
“Are you going to make me leave?”
Alexander immediately understood what she meant.
Not the room.
The house.
Her life with him.
He crouched.
“Never.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
She hugged him.
It happened so suddenly that Alexander nearly lost his balance.
Then he wrapped both arms around her.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
“For what?”
“For not seeing it.”
Sofia buried her face in his shoulder.
“I tried to tell you.”
“I know.”
“You said you were busy.”
The words cut deeper than anything Veronica had said.
Alexander closed his eyes.
“I know.”
When Sofia went upstairs with Rosa, David sat beside him.
“There’s something else.”
Alexander looked exhausted.
“What now?”
“The holding company bought property.”
“What property?”
David turned the laptop.
A large estate outside the city.
Purchased for $1.9 million.
Registered to Hale Residential Investments.
Alexander frowned.
“What does that have to do with Sofia?”
“Maybe nothing.”
David clicked another document.
“But the property has a business license application.”
Alexander read it.
PRIVATE RESIDENTIAL ACADEMY.
He looked at Veronica.
She was staring at the screen.
“What is this?”
She said nothing.
David opened an attached enrollment draft.
STUDENT NAME: SOFIA VALE.
Alexander went cold.
“You were sending her away.”
Veronica whispered, “It was a school.”
Vincent laughed again.
“No.”
Everyone looked at him.
May you like
He smiled.
“Tell him what kind of school it really was.”
