Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN IN THE RAINVictor ordered the gates sealed.
The estate manager locked every entrance while Evelyn contacted the police. The three vehicles stopped outside the iron fence, their headlights shining through the rain like pale eyes.
No one stepped out.
That frightened me more than if they had charged the house.
People who came to threaten you wanted to be seen.
People who waited in darkness wanted something else.
Mara stood in the library with her arms wrapped around herself.
“Who are they?” I asked.
“Employees of Blackwell Protective Services,” she said. “Henry Pierce used them for private operations.”
“Operations?”
“Intimidation. Surveillance. Document recovery.”
Evelyn’s expression tightened.
“Did Nathan tell them to come?”
Mara looked down.
“He said he needed the deed and the drive.”
Victor approached her.
“Why did you stay with him?”
Mara’s eyes filled.
“My brother owes money to a private lender. Nathan paid the debt.”
“And in return?”
“I gave him access to your files. I monitored Olivia’s calls. I sent him copies of letters.”
My chest tightened.
Mara looked at me.
“I know what I did.”
“You destroyed my marriage.”
Nathan had been unfaithful, but Mara had helped him isolate me.
She lowered her gaze.
“Yes.”
“Why should I believe you now?”
“Because Nathan stopped pretending this was about money.”
She reached into her coat and removed a phone.
“There’s a recording.”
Evelyn took it.
Mara pressed play.
Nathan’s voice filled the room.
“You will take the child as soon as she leaves the hospital.”
A man answered, “And the mother?”
“She’ll be sedated. The doctor has already been paid.”
My breath stopped.
The recording continued.
“Once the baby is in my custody, Olivia will be declared unstable. She’ll sign the transfer when she realizes no court will give her a child.”
The other man laughed.
“And the mansion?”
“After the highway contract closes, the land becomes worthless to everyone except me.”
The recording ended.
Victor’s face had gone completely still.
Evelyn immediately copied the file to three devices.
Mara whispered, “I recorded it two nights ago.”
“Why didn’t you go to the police?” I asked.
“He has people everywhere.”
“You expect me to believe you suddenly grew a conscience?”
“No,” she said. “I expect you to hate me. But I don’t want a child taken from her mother because I was too afraid to speak.”
The police arrived twenty minutes later.
The vehicles outside were gone.
Only tire marks remained in the mud.
We gave the officers the recording and the security footage. The detective assigned to the case, Marcus Hill, listened without interrupting.
When he finished, he looked at me.
“Mrs. Pierce, you need to leave the estate tonight.”
“No.”
“This may be dangerous.”
“This is my home.”
“Your home is not worth risking your life.”
I looked toward the dark hallway.
“If I leave, Nathan will keep coming back.”
Detective Hill studied me.
“Then we make sure he can’t.”
The estate was placed under police protection. Victor hired private security, but I refused to hide in a hotel.
I wanted to see the place Nathan had tried to steal.
I wanted him to understand that fear no longer controlled me.
At midnight, I returned to the library.
The storm had grown stronger. Rain raced down the windows. The mansion creaked around us.
Mara sat at the far end of the room, guarded by an officer.
I had not forgiven her.
But I had agreed to let her remain until she gave a full statement.
Evelyn placed a stack of documents on the desk.
“These are financial records from Nathan’s company.”
“What do they show?”
“That he has been moving money through Ashbourne Holdings for years. He used your name as the sole owner while presenting himself as the controlling beneficiary.”
“Why?”
“To secure loans. He borrowed nearly seventy million dollars.”
I stared at the numbers.
“Seventy million?”
“The loans are due in six weeks.”
Victor entered the room.
“That explains the rush.”
“The highway route will be approved in five weeks,” Evelyn said. “When the route is announced, the land value will increase dramatically. Nathan intended to transfer the estate to a development company, repay his loans, and keep the remainder.”
“Why marry me?” I asked.
No one answered immediately.
Then Mara spoke.
“Because he needed access to the trust.”
Victor’s expression darkened.
“But he could not control the trust without Olivia’s signature.”
“He thought he could,” Mara said. “Henry told him that Olivia would become isolated and dependent.”
I closed my eyes.
I remembered the first year of my marriage.
Nathan had encouraged me to leave my job.
He said I should focus on family.
Then he criticized every friend who visited.
He changed the locks after an argument.
He managed the household accounts.
He told me my father only wanted to buy my loyalty.
Piece by piece, he had made me doubt my own mind.
A sudden crash echoed from the east wing.
Everyone stood.
The security officer ran toward the sound.
A second crash followed.
Then the lights went out.
The mansion fell into darkness.
I heard the sharp click of a door opening.
Victor grabbed my arm.
“Stay behind me.”
Emergency lights flickered red along the hallway.
A man appeared at the far end.
He wore a black coat and a mask.
Then another figure stepped behind him.
The security officer raised his weapon.
“Stop!”
The masked men ran.
A gunshot exploded through the mansion.
I screamed and instinctively covered my stomach.
Victor pulled me behind the stone fireplace.
The officers chased the intruders through the servants’ corridor.
Several minutes passed before the lights returned.
The security officer lay on the floor, bleeding from his shoulder.
He was alive.
The masked men had escaped through a basement door.
But they had left something behind.
On the library desk sat a white envelope.
My name was written across it.
I opened it with shaking hands.
Inside was a photograph of the hospital where I planned to deliver my baby.
On the back, Nathan had written:
You cannot protect her forever.
My hands began to tremble.
Victor took the photograph from me.
His voice was low.
“Your husband has made a serious mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“He threatened my granddaughter.”
He turned toward the police.
“Find Nathan Pierce.”
Detective Hill nodded.
May you like
Victor looked back at me.
“And when we do, he will learn that the woman he tried to destroy is no longer standing alone.”
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