CHAPTER 5 – THE WOMAN FROM THE PAST
CHAPTER 5 – THE WOMAN FROM THE PAST
Nathan felt Lily's small body trembling against him.
"She knows my mommy."
The whisper was so faint he almost believed he had imagined it.
He gently lifted Lily's chin.
"What did you say, sweetheart?"
Lily's eyes filled with tears.
"She knew Mommy... before Mommy died."
The room fell silent.
Detective Elena Brooks slowly turned toward Victoria.
Nathan's face drained of color.
"My wife died six years ago."
Victoria smiled.
"I know."
Nathan's voice became dangerously quiet.
"You never met Emily."
"Didn't I?"
Victoria tilted her head.
"You'd be surprised how little husbands know about their wives' lives."
Nathan stared at her.
Emily Whitmore had died in what police ruled a tragic car accident during a winter storm.
The case had been closed within weeks.
No alcohol.
No speeding.
No mechanical failure that investigators could identify.
Just bad luck.
Or so everyone believed.
Detective Brooks folded her arms.
"Explain."
Victoria laughed softly.
"I worked with Emily."
Nathan frowned.
"No, you didn't."
"I checked your résumé."
"You said you were living in California."
"I lied."
The admission came without hesitation.
"I was using another name back then."
Carmen Ruiz exchanged a glance with the detective.
"Run facial recognition," Brooks told one of the officers.
The officer hurried out.
Nathan couldn't stop staring.
"Who are you?"
Victoria looked almost amused.
"My real name..."
She smiled.
"...is Vanessa Cole."
Nathan had never heard it before.
Lily had.
The little girl suddenly covered her ears.
"No..."
"No..."
"No..."
Nathan hugged her tightly.
"What is it?"
Through her sobs Lily whispered,
"Mommy argued with her."
Flash.
A memory.
Small.
Blurry.
Lily had been only two years old.
A woman shouting outside their old house.
Emily slamming the front door.
Nathan had been in London that week negotiating an acquisition.
He never asked about it afterward.
Emily had simply said,
"It was nothing."
Now...
It didn't feel like nothing.
An hour later.
An officer rushed back into the room carrying a tablet.
"Detective."
"We found her."
He placed the screen on the table.
A photograph appeared.
Six years old.
Dark hair.
Different makeup.
Different hairstyle.
Same eyes.
Victoria.
Or rather...
Vanessa Cole.
Nathan felt sick.
The officer continued.
"Former pharmaceutical sales representative."
"Dismissed for insurance fraud."
"Multiple identity changes."
"Several civil lawsuits."
"But here's the interesting part."
He enlarged another photograph.
Emily Whitmore.
Standing beside Vanessa.
Both wearing conference badges.
Nathan couldn't breathe.
"They worked together for nearly three years."
Victoria smiled.
"Told you."
Detective Brooks leaned closer.
"What happened between you?"
Victoria's smile slowly disappeared.
"Emily ruined everything."
Nathan's jaw tightened.
"How?"
"She reported me."
"For falsifying clinical trial data."
The room became silent again.
Victoria's eyes burned with old hatred.
"I lost my career."
"My license."
"My future."
"And then..."
She looked directly at Nathan.
"She married a billionaire."
Nathan felt horror spreading through his chest.
"You blamed Emily."
"I blamed both of you."
"So you waited."
Victoria nodded.
"Revenge doesn't expire."
The detective's expression hardened.
"Are you admitting this was planned?"
Victoria looked around the room.
"Every single day."
Nathan whispered,
"My wife..."
Victoria interrupted.
"She wasn't supposed to die."
Everyone froze.
"I only wanted to scare her."
Detective Brooks stepped forward.
"What do you mean?"
Victoria hesitated.
For the first time...
She looked uncertain.
"I hired someone..."
"...to make her car slide off the road."
Nathan's blood turned to ice.
"No..."
"The roads were icy."
"It was supposed to be a minor accident."
"But..."
She shrugged.
"...she never came home."
Nathan staggered backward.
His wife hadn't simply died.
Someone had caused the crash.
His entire world shifted beneath his feet.
Detective Brooks immediately spoke into her radio.
"Reopen the Emily Whitmore fatal collision."
"Treat it as a homicide investigation."
Victoria finally looked worried.
May you like
For the first time that night...
The past had caught up with her.
