Chapter 13 - Serena Came Back
Serena surrendered the next morning.
She arrived at the district attorney’s office without makeup, without jewelry, and without the confidence she had worn like armor inside the Blackwood mansion.
Victor sat across from her in an interview room. Clara waited behind the glass with Marcus.
Serena would only talk if Victor was present.
“I didn’t know about Naomi at first,” she said.
“At first?” Victor asked.
“My father moved money for Helena. I found out after we started dating.”
“You stayed.”
“Yes.”
“You drugged Ethan.”
Serena’s eyes filled. “Helena told me the syrup was prescribed to keep him calm. I should have checked.”
“You dragged him across a floor.”
“I know.”
“You kicked Clara.”
Serena looked down.
“Yes.”
Victor’s voice hardened. “So don’t sit there and turn yourself into another victim.”
Serena flinched.
Then she slid a memory card across the table.
“My father kept this.”
The recording showed a private garage two nights before Naomi’s crash.
Helena stood beside a mechanic named Paul Rainer.
Rainer worked under Naomi’s car.
Helena handed him an envelope.
The video had no sound.
But it did not need sound.
Rainer was arrested that afternoon.
He confessed within six hours.
Helena had paid him to weaken the brake line, not cut it completely. She expected the failure to happen later, somewhere that looked accidental.
Rain accelerated the damage.
Naomi died.
Victor sat alone in his study after hearing the confession.
Clara found him there near midnight.
“I spent two years blaming weather,” he said.
Clara remained by the door.
“You blamed what you were told.”
“That’s becoming a pattern.”
He looked at her.
“I’m sorry.”
She did not answer immediately.
Then the nursery monitor on Victor’s desk crackled.
Ethan’s sleepy voice came through.
“Cwa-wa?”
Clara smiled despite herself.
Victor stood.
But before either of them reached the door, Marcus called.
“Victor, Serena’s father is gone.”
“And?”
“He emptied three accounts before sunrise.”
May you like
Marcus paused.
“One of them was Ethan’s medical trust.”
