Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN WHO CAME BACK FROM THE DEAD
Richard spent the next forty-eight hours becoming a hero.
That was the part that made me sick.
Every television channel showed the same image.
My husband standing outside our mansion.
A tired expression.
Red eyes.
A broken voice.
"My wife was everything to me."
I watched the interview from a hidden apartment Evelyn arranged for me.
My hand rested on my stomach.
My baby was sleeping.
For a few seconds, I forgot about Richard.
Then his voice filled the room again.
"I just want her back."
I looked at the screen.
The man who pushed me into the sky was begging the world to bring me home.
The performance was perfect.
Almost.
Because I knew something nobody else knew.
Richard was not mourning.
He was waiting.
Waiting for the world to accept that I was gone.
Waiting for my company shares to become easier to control.
Waiting for my name to become a memory.
But he forgot one thing.
I was still breathing.
---
"Are you ready?"
Evelyn stood across from me.
I looked at the documents on the table.
My new identity.
Temporary protection.
Legal preparations.
Everything felt unreal.
"I don't want to hide forever."
Evelyn nodded.
"You won't."
"Then why am I hiding now?"
"Because Richard believes you are dead."
She placed a photograph in front of me.
It showed Richard entering a private office late at night.
"Right now, he is careless."
I looked closer.
"Who is that?"
Evelyn's expression hardened.
"Someone who may know where the money went."
---
That person was Mark Sullivan.
My company's chief financial officer.
The man who had worked beside me for six years.
The man I trusted with millions of dollars.
The same man secretly meeting my husband.
I could not understand it.
Mark knew my father.
He knew how much Hayes Technologies meant to my family.
Why would he betray me?
Daniel looked through the files.
"We need to know what they planned."
"Can we access his records?"
"Not legally."
I looked at him.
"Then find another way."
Daniel hesitated.
"You're talking about someone who helped your husband fake your death."
I stared at him.
"No."
I pointed at the screen.
"I'm talking about someone who helped my husband try to kill me."
The room went silent.
Because those two things were not the same.
---
That night, I watched my own funeral announcement online.
It was scheduled for the following week.
The world already believed I was gone.
My employees posted messages.
My friends cried.
People talked about my achievements.
And Richard stood in front of cameras pretending he had lost his wife.
I watched him place flowers beside my photograph.
Then something happened.
Something nobody else noticed.
A reporter asked:
"Mr. Hayes, what happens to the company now?"
Richard paused.
Only for a moment.
But I saw it.
That tiny flash.
Relief.
Then sadness returned.
"My wife's legacy will be protected."
I whispered:
"No, Richard."
"You are not protecting my legacy."
"You are trying to steal it."
---
The next morning, Daniel arrived with new information.
"We found something."
I turned around.
"What?"
He placed a small envelope on the table.
"Richard was not only researching your inheritance."
I opened it.
Inside was a copy of a life insurance policy.
My name was written across the top.
My fingers went cold.
"How much?"
Daniel looked at me.
"Fifty million dollars."
I stared at the number.
Then I saw the date.
The policy was created one month after I became pregnant.
My heart dropped.
Richard did not just want my company.
He wanted my death to become profitable.
---
But the final page was worse.
At the bottom was a signature.
Not Richard's.
Not Mark's.
Someone else's.
Someone who had approved everything.
I looked at Daniel.
"Who signed this?"
He took a breath.
Then answered:
"The person who introduced Richard to the helicopter company."
I waited.
"Who?"
Daniel looked at me.
"Your father."
My blood froze.
"What did you just say?"
He immediately shook his head.
"Not your father."
I looked confused.
"The signature belongs to someone who used your father's name."
A fake signature.
A fake identity.
A deeper plan.
And suddenly I understood.
Richard was not just hiding a murder attempt.
He was hiding something much bigger.
---
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CHAPTER 6 END
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