All Chapters of The Billionaire Husband Who Tried to Kill Me : Chapter 71 - Chapter 79

Zara's POVThe recording started with the sound of ice in a glass, and the entire courtroom went completely still.I had heard Sophia's recordings a dozen times by then, sitting in Reeves's office with headphones pressed against my ears, but hearing them fill a federal courtroom through speakers built for exactly this purpose was a different experience entirely. Marcus's voice came through clear and unhurried, describing Olivia as a problem to be managed, instructing Sophia on the precise angle to hit her head against a hospital wall, and I watched three jurors flinch at almost the same moment."Objection," Marcus's counsel said, half rising. "Relevance and prejudicial impact outweigh probative value.""Overruled," Judge Alvarez said without looking up from her notes. "You had this argument in chambers, counselor. I already ruled on it."During the recess that followed, I overheard two jurors speaking quietly near the coffee station outside the courtroom, their voices low but not quit

Olivia's POVThe foreman's hands were shaking when he stood to read the verdict, and somehow that small detail told me everything before he said a single word.I sat between David and Emmanuel in the front row of the gallery, my hands folded tightly in my lap, and felt the entire courtroom hold its breath at the same moment. Weeks of testimony had led to this, recordings and documents and witnesses who had risked everything to stand where Wheeler and Leo and Sophia had stood, and now it came down to twelve strangers and a piece of paper."On the count of conspiracy to commit murder," the foreman read, his voice steadier now that he had started, "we find the defendant, Marcus Collins, guilty."A sound moved through the gallery, not quite a gasp, something quieter and more controlled, the collective release of breath from people who had been holding it far longer than the length of this trial."On the count of conspiracy to commit financial fraud, guilty. On the count of obstruction of

Emmanuel's POVThe ribbon was blue, which seemed like an odd detail to remember clearly on a day that held so much else, but I remembered it precisely because Olivia had insisted on it, saying blue was the color of the sky the morning she visited her mother's grave for the first time.We stood together in front of a modest building on the edge of the city, nothing like the towering glass headquarters my other holdings occupied. This one was low and warm looking, red brick with large windows, a garden already planted along the front where children could sit if they wanted to. Olivia had insisted on the garden too. Somewhere for kids to keep their own boxes of stones, she had told me once, without anyone telling them it was childish."The Osei Collins Foundation for Family Safety," the sign above the door read, and I had argued gently with her over that name, suggesting it should carry only her name, since the work itself belonged entirely to her vision. She had refused."It carries bot

Olivia's POVHe was too quiet while he did the dishes, and that was how I knew something was different.David was never quiet like that. He talked while he worked, ran commentary on whatever show was playing, complained cheerfully about the state of the kitchen sponge. That night he stood at the sink with his sleeves pushed up and said almost nothing at all, and I sat on the counter behind him swinging my feet and watching the tense line of his shoulders with growing curiosity."You're being strange," I said."I'm washing dishes.""You're being strange while washing dishes."He turned around, drying his hands on the towel slowly, and there was something in his face I had learned to recognize over the months we had spent building this life together, quiet, careful nervousness dressed up as calm. I had seen that exact expression once before, on a rooftop, right before he kissed me for the first time."David," I said, sliding off the counter. "What is it."He did not answer right away. H