THE WRONG BRIDE のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 51 - チャプター 55

The command van smelled of cold coffee and diesel. Amelia sat between Adrian and Richard, watching four monitors feed grainy night vision footage of a hangar two hundred yards away."One man inside," Reyes said, headset pressed to her ear. "No weapons visible. He's just sitting there.""Waiting," Adrian said."Or finished running," Reyes said.The team moved in fast and quiet, dark shapes crossing the tarmac in formation. Amelia watched the monitor, her pulse loud in her own ears, until the hangar door opened and the shapes disappeared inside.Nothing happened for eleven seconds.Then Reyes's radio crackled. "Suspect in custody. No resistance."Amelia let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding."No Cole," the voice added. "Whitfield's alone."They brought him out ten minutes later, hands cuffed behind him, his suit still immaculate even now, as though he'd dressed for this exact moment and found it beneath him regardless. He didn't look at Amelia. He looked at Richard, standing

They found Delphine awake when they reached the villa, already sitting in the study as though she'd been waiting for them, a glass of untouched wine on the table in front of her."You know," Adrian said, before anyone else could speak. "Don't you."Delphine didn't pretend not to understand. "I suspected. For a long time. I never had proof.""Margaret's note said you know more than you've let yourself remember," Amelia said, laying the folded paper on the table between them. "What does that mean?"Delphine stared at it for a long moment before answering, her composure visibly costing her something to hold together."The night Eleanor died," she said quietly, "I wasn't where I told everyone I was. I was with Margaret. We'd gone to the site together, hours before you arrived there, Richard. I thought we were checking on the damage, making sure nothing had been left behind that could implicate the family.""You were there," Richard said, his voice hollow."I didn't know what she intended,

Richard was quiet the entire drive back to the villa, staring out the window at the dark coastline sliding past, his hands folded tightly in his lap."I want to turn myself in," he said finally, breaking the silence as Adrian pulled into the driveway.Adrian put the car in park but didn't move to get out. "Dad.""I helped bury seven deaths," Richard said. "I signed paperwork that framed Delphine for a crime I committed. I let your mother's killer walk free for twenty-five years because I never once asked hard enough questions about what actually happened that night. Margaret isn't the only one who owes a debt here.""You've already confessed publicly," Amelia said gently, from the back seat. "Voss's article and The interview. You've already paid more of that debt than most people ever would.""Confessing to a journalist isn't the same as facing consequences," Richard said. "I want to walk into Reyes's office myself. Not wait for a warrant or let my lawyers negotiate it down to somethi