Chapter 10 - THE MARRIAGE THAT NEVER HAPPENED
Adrian looked from the forged certificate to Victoria.
“You forged a marriage.”
“I corrected a scheduling problem.”
Noah’s face was bruised, but his eyes were alert.
Dane shifted behind him.
Adrian kept talking.
“You can’t make this hold.”
“I don’t need forever. I need Monday.”
There it was again.
Monday.
The insurance policy. The trust transfer. The passports.
Victoria was not building a marriage.
She was building a forty-eight-hour window.
“Then what?” Adrian asked.
For the first time, Victoria’s smile flickered.
Behind Adrian, a tiny red light blinked on the hangar wall.
Fire alarm panel.
Noah saw it too.
The boy kicked backward with both feet, knocking Dane off balance.
Adrian lunged.
The gun fired into the ceiling.
Ortiz’s team crashed through the side entrance.
Victoria ran for the aircraft.
Dane grabbed the ledger and sprinted toward a fuel truck.
Marcus tackled him halfway there.
Noah crawled behind a tool cabinet.
Adrian caught Victoria on the aircraft stairs.
She slapped him, clawed at his face, and screamed, “Those girls ruined everything!”
Adrian held her wrists.
“No. They survived you.”
Police pulled her away.
For one breath, he thought it was over.
Then Marcus opened the ledger.
Several pages had been cut out.
The section covering Elise’s crash was missing.
Victoria laughed from the floor.
“You still don’t know who hit her car.”
Adrian turned.
“Charles?”
Victoria smiled through blood on her lip.
“My father never gets his own hands dirty.”
Her eyes moved past Adrian toward Marcus.
“And neither does the man standing next to you.”
The hangar went silent.
Marcus stared at her.
May you like
Adrian slowly looked at the security chief who had protected him for twelve years.
Victoria whispered, “Ask him where he was the night Elise crashed.”
