Chapter 11 - Chicago Begins to Choose Sides
Ellie refused to meet Victor alone.
She met him through glass, with attorneys and investigators present.
Victor looked ordinary.
That disturbed her.
Men who caused enormous damage were supposed to look monstrous.
Victor looked like someone's accountant.
“Mrs. Hughes.”
“Why am I here?”
“Philip kept something from you.”
“He kept many things from me.”
Victor smiled.
“You've changed.”
“No. You just never knew me.”
The smile disappeared.
Victor placed a document against the glass.
A life-insurance policy.
Ellie's name.
Five million dollars.
Philip was the beneficiary.
Her stomach tightened.
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
Ellie looked at Morales.
She hadn't known.
Victor continued.
“Philip had debt.”
“How much?”
“More than he could repay.”
Ellie understood the implication.
“You're saying he planned to kill me.”
Victor shrugged.
“I'm saying he asked questions about what happened financially if his wife died accidentally.”
Adrian's expression became lethal.
Ellie remained still.
“Do you have proof?”
Victor produced messages.
Investigators authenticated them later.
Philip had asked about insurance.
Accidents.
Liability.
The warehouse road.
The night Ellie was thrown from the BMW suddenly looked different.
Had Philip intended to leave her alive?
Nobody could prove otherwise.
The prosecution added evidence to its investigation.
News leaked.
Chicago exploded.
Some people believed Ellie.
Others called her a liar.
Social media dissected her body.
Her marriage.
Her clothes.
Her relationship with Adrian.
Ellie made one decision.
She stopped reading comments.
“You're not curious?” Rosa asked.
“Extremely.”
“Then why stop?”
“Because strangers don't get to rent space in my head for free.”
Rosa smiled.
“Finally, something sensible.”
Meanwhile, Philip's public image collapsed.
Charities removed his name.
Business partners distanced themselves.
Former employees came forward.
One woman described seeing him shove Ellie at an office Christmas party.
Another remembered Ellie hiding bruises.
Evidence accumulated.
Philip's defense changed.
He admitted the marriage was “volatile.”
Then claimed mutual abuse.
Ellie expected that too.
Morales warned her.
“He'll try everything.”
“He already has.”
One afternoon Ellie received a handwritten letter.
Not from Philip.
From his mother.
I am sorry.
Ellie nearly threw it away.
Then continued.
Philip's mother admitted seeing signs years earlier.
She had convinced herself it wasn't her business.
She had told Ellie marriage was difficult.
She had encouraged patience.
I thought keeping a family together was more important than asking why you looked afraid. I was wrong.
Ellie cried.
Not because forgiveness came easily.
Because acknowledgment had.
She wrote back:
Thank you for telling the truth.
Nothing more.
Nothing less.
That evening Adrian found her on the balcony.
“Bad day?”
“Complicated.”
“The letter?”
She nodded.
He stood beside her.
“Do you forgive her?”
“I don't know.”
“You don't have to know today.”
Ellie smiled.
“You've gotten annoyingly good at this.”
“At what?”
“Not telling me what to feel.”
“I practice.”
Then his phone rang.
He listened.
His expression changed.
“What?”
“Someone broke into the evidence warehouse.”
Ellie's stomach dropped.
“What was taken?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why break in?”
Adrian looked at her.
“Something was left.”
A package.
Addressed to Ellie.
Inside was a photograph of Caroline Webb entering protective custody.
On the back:
SHE TALKED. SHE DIES FIRST.
Ellie's blood went cold.
The case had stopped being about Philip.
May you like
Someone still loyal to Victor was hunting witnesses.
And Caroline was the first name on the list.
