9

Elena

Roxy picked me up two streets away from the estate, far enough that no one peering out a window would spot me leaving with her.

“Her name is Mia,” Roxy said quietly, checking her mirrors before pulling out into traffic. “She agreed to meet, but barely. It took me an hour on the phone just to convince her you weren’t calling on Lucas’s behalf.”

“I don’t blame her,” I replied, watching the stone gates of the estate shrink in the side mirror. “I was married into that family of monsters. As far as she’s concerned, I’m just another Blackwood who helped sweep his filth under the rug.”

“You’re not them,” Roxy said firmly, glancing at me. “But I get why she needs to see that with her own eyes.”

We pulled up outside a small coffee shop on the edge of the city, the kind of place with mismatched chairs and a chalkboard menu, nothing like the polished restaurants Adrian’s family favored.

A young woman sat alone at a corner table, her hands wrapped tightly around an untouched cup of tea. Her eyes darted anxiously toward the entrance every single time the bell chimed.

Mia.

She was younger than I had imagined—twenty-three at most, with dark circles under her eyes and a fragile, guarded air.

“Mia,” Roxy said softly as we approached, sliding into the chair across from her. “This is Elena. She’s... done with the Blackwood family.”

Mia’s eyes flicked to me, sharp, defensive, and weary. “You’re his sister-in-law.”

“I was married to his brother,” I said, sitting down beside Roxy. “Adrian was declared dead as of yesterday. I am not here to protect Lucas, or his mother, or anyone in that house. I’m here because I saw what he did to you, and I am going to make him pay.”

Something in Mia’s posture flinched at the word saw. Her knuckles turned white around her cup. “Then you know why I never went to the police.”

“He threatened you.”

“Threatened me, and then bought me,” Mia hissed, her voice cracking with hollow self-loathing. “They threw a sum of money at me that would take me five years to earn. And when I hesitated, his mother came to my apartment herself.”

My eyes narrowed. “Eleanor came to see you?”

“She didn’t raise her voice,” Mia whispered, staring down at her cold tea. “She just... reminded me how easily ‘accidents’ happen to poor girls who cause trouble for powerful families. She told me her lawyers had buried far worse than me. So I took the check. I hate myself every single day for taking it, but I was terrified.”

“You survived,” I said, reaching across the table and resting my hand near hers. “That is nothing to hate yourself for. Men like Lucas rely on terror, and women like his mother rely on silence.”

Mia looked up at me, her eyes red and glistening. Something raw and disbelieving washed over her face, as if no one had ever granted her permission to feel innocent before.

“Why are you doing this?” Mia asked, her voice trembling. “Whatever war you’re waging against them—why risk getting dragged into this mud? You could take the money and walk away and never look back.”

I closed my eyes for a fraction of a second. Behind my eyelids, I saw Lucas’s shadow bending over my bed in the dark, his hand stroking my cheek, his soft voice testing if I was truly asleep.

“Because walking away leaves him free to keep doing it,” I murmured, opening my eyes. “And because he deserves to rot in a cell for what he’s done.”

Mia studied my face for a long, silent moment, searching for any trace of deceit. Finding none, she let out a shaky breath.

“What do you need from me?” she finally asked.

“I need an airtight case,” I explained, leaning in closer. “Not just your video, but a pattern of behavior. If we can prove this wasn’t an isolated incident, his family’s money won’t be able to save him. Are there others?”

“Yes,” Mia answered immediately, a sharp bitterness lacing her tone. “I know of at least two.”

Roxy pulled out her phone, opening her notes app. “Names?”

“There was a receptionist who worked in the downtown office—Priya,” Mia recalled, her jaw tightening. “She vanished overnight, about a year before I was hired. The older staff whispered about her, but they shut up fast whenever I asked questions. And then there was another girl... May. Her mother runs a small neighborhood mini-mart.”

I nodded slowly, processing the names. A calculated, methodical predator. Lucas hadn’t just gotten sloppy—he had operated a predatory pipeline, fully backed and bankrolled by his mother for years.

“If we can locate Priya,” Roxy said, her fingers flying across her screen, “and get your bank records to confirm the settlement on paper, we can file a multi-count criminal complaint that no corrupt judge can dismiss.”

Mia’s face suddenly drained of color. “I... I can’t be the first one to go to the police. I can’t, Elena. If his mother finds out I broke the non-disclosure agreement, she’ll ruin my family—”

“You won’t go first,” I cut in firmly, squeezing her wrist gently. “And you will never stand alone. I will personally lay the trap. I will find Priya and May, and when we strike, we strike together.”

Mia stared at me, tears spilling over her lashes. “Thank you,” she whispered.

As we left the coffee shop, Mia lingered by the door, her eyes meeting mine one last time.

“When it happens,” she murmured, “when you finally drag him down into the dirt... I want to be in that courtroom to see his face.”

“I promise you,” I said, “you will have a front-row seat.”

We walked out to Roxy’s car in silence, the cool city breeze cutting through the heavy atmosphere.

As Roxy started the engine, my father-in-law’s voice from this morning echoed ominously in my head: “We will take care of Adrian’s body. Just leave it to us. All you need to focus on is changing the trust ownership.”

They weren’t just rushing me to sign over the estate—they were rushing to destroy the physical evidence of Adrian’s faked death. Adrian wasn’t dead, which meant whatever “body” they were planning to cremate or bury in two days was either an empty casket or a poor, unidentified corpse bought off the black market to close the case forever.

They were trying to bury a ghost to solidify their fraud.

“Roxy,” I said, my voice turning to ice as I turned to her.

“Yes.”

“We need to find Priya,” I said, pulling out my phone. “But first, I need you to contact your private investigator friend at the precinct. We’re going to place a discreet watch on the Blackwood family’s private mortuary.”

Roxy glanced at me, her eyes wide. “Why?”

“Because they think they’re going to cremate Adrian’s ‘corpse’ in forty-eight hours.” I smiled coldly, my fingers tapping against the glass. “And I’m going to make sure the police arrive with an emergency autopsy warrant right before the fire starts.”