Chapter 4 - THE DEAD WOMAN

For several seconds, I couldn’t move.

Victoria looked older than the photograph.

But it was her.

Same high cheekbones.

Same long blonde hair.

Same narrow eyes.

Alive.

Very much alive.

“Marcus.”

“I’m at the gate.”

“There’s a woman outside.”

“I see her.”

“It’s Victoria.”

Marcus went silent.

Then I heard him speaking to someone else.

“Do not let that Mercedes leave.”

My hands started shaking.

Not because of Victoria.

Because of what her existence meant.

Daniel had lied about a dead fiancée.

Patricia had participated.

For years.

Why?

Downstairs, officers entered the mansion.

“Daniel Mercer?” one called.

Daniel shouted from the hallway.

“My wife is having some kind of episode.”

I nearly laughed.

Of course.

Patricia rushed downstairs.

“She’s unstable! She locked herself in a room!”

The officer replied, “Ma’am, we received a domestic violence call.”

Daniel’s voice dropped.

“That was exaggerated.”

My cheek throbbed.

Marcus said, “Do you want me to come to the study?”

“Yes.”

Two minutes later, someone knocked.

“Emily, it’s Marcus. Officer Grant is with me.”

I released the steel latch.

Marcus stepped inside.

He was fifty-eight, silver-haired, always perfectly composed.

But when he saw my face, his expression changed.

“Jesus.”

Officer Grant, a woman in her forties, looked at my cheek.

“Did your husband do that?”

“Yes.”

“Any other injuries?”

“My mouth is cut.”

“We need photographs.”

Marcus walked to Daniel’s laptop.

“Don’t close anything.”

I pointed at the messages.

He read them.

His face hardened.

“Officer, you may want to see this.”

She came closer.

Then a commotion erupted downstairs.

A woman screamed.

“No! Get your hands off me!”

Victoria.

Marcus moved toward the security monitor.

Two officers were escorting her through the entrance.

Patricia saw her.

And collapsed into a chair.

“Oh my God.”

Daniel went white.

Victoria looked at him.

Not afraid.

Furious.

“You idiot,” she snapped.

Daniel rushed toward her.

“Why are you here?”

“Because you stopped answering!”

“Shut up!”

Officer Grant immediately stepped between them.

Victoria laughed.

“You told me tonight was handled.”

“Stop talking!”

Marcus looked at me.

I felt sick.

Victoria turned toward the staircase.

Her eyes found mine.

For the first time, the woman who had supposedly been dead for seven years was looking directly at me.

Then she smiled.

Not warmly.

Not nervously.

Like someone seeing an obstacle she had expected to disappear.

“So,” Victoria said.

“This is Emily.”

Daniel shouted, “Victoria, shut your mouth!”

She ignored him.

“I’ve waited five years to meet the woman who stole my life.”

I stared at her.

“Stole your life?”

She tilted her head.

“You really don’t know, do you?”

Daniel lunged forward.

Two officers grabbed him.

“DON’T LISTEN TO HER!”

Victoria laughed.

Then she looked at me again.

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