Chapter 16 - The Ice Beneath Her Feet
Evelyn ran across the frozen lake in thin shoes.
Rebecca shouted for her to stop.
The ice groaned beneath the wind.
Daniel reached the shoreline just as Evelyn turned.
She held the blue ring in one hand and a small remote in the other.
“Come closer and the lake house burns.”
Marcus examined the device from a distance.
“Detonator.”
Evelyn had planted fuel charges beneath the house to destroy the remaining evidence.
Lena stepped onto the ice.
Daniel caught her arm.
“No.”
“She wants me.”
Evelyn smiled.
“At least one of you understands.”
Lena moved slowly toward her.
“You told me Daniel stopped looking.”
“He should have.”
“You told me my daughter would forget my voice.”
“She still might.”
“You told me fear was the only thing that lasted.”
Evelyn raised the remote.
Lena stopped ten feet away.
“You were wrong.”
Behind them, Mara’s recorded testimony played through Rebecca’s vehicle speaker. Evelyn heard her own voice ordering the cover-up.
For the first time, fear entered Evelyn’s eyes.
She pressed the remote.
Nothing happened.
Marcus had blocked the signal.
Evelyn stepped backward.
The ice cracked.
Her leg plunged through.
She screamed and dropped the remote.
Lena instinctively moved forward, but Daniel held her back while agents threw Evelyn a rescue line.
Evelyn stared at Lena.
“Help me!”
Lena’s voice trembled.
“You never helped me.”
Still, she pushed the rescue line closer with her foot.
Not because Evelyn deserved mercy.
Because Lena refused to become her.
Agents pulled Evelyn from the freezing water and handcuffed her on the shore.
As she was placed into the vehicle, Rebecca received confirmation.
The will had been authenticated.
The foundation ledger had been verified.
And the judge who released Evelyn had been arrested for accepting payments from Charles Voss.
The network was collapsing.
Yet Daniel still faced one final question.
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Would Lena ever want to return to the life that had nearly killed her?
👉 Justice had finally caught Evelyn, but Daniel feared that saving Lena did not mean he could ask her to remain his wife.
