Chapter 5 - The Widower Before SunsetVictor returned to the cliff lodge before sunset.
He did not know the rescue helicopter had approached from the ocean side, hidden by the storm. He believed Elena’s body had either remained on the ledge or fallen into the water below.
Serena sat beside him in the SUV, trembling.
“You should have checked.”
Victor kept his eyes on the road.
“She hit the ledge.”
“You saw her move.”
“I saw snow falling.”
“What if she survived?”
“No one survives that fall in this weather.”
Serena pressed both hands together.
Her knuckles had gone white.
She had imagined fraud.
Insurance.
A life after Elena’s death.
She had not imagined watching a pregnant woman disappear over a cliff.
Victor had.
That was the difference between them.
At the lodge, he called emergency services.
His performance began immediately.
His voice broke.
He said Elena wandered toward the viewpoint while emotionally distressed. He claimed he tried to reach her, but the ice gave way beneath her boots.
Serena could be heard crying behind him.
Victor described the location accurately enough for authorities to search, but not the precise ledge where Elena landed.
He expected the storm to erase everything.
Then he called the insurance company.
The claim representative expressed surprise at the speed of the notification.
Victor explained that he wanted to preserve every record before confusion began.
He sounded responsible.
Prepared.
Grieving.
The claim was opened before rescue teams publicly announced they had found no body.
Victor contacted Mercer Technologies next.
He told the board Elena was missing and presumed dead.
He requested emergency authority to protect the company from market instability.
Some directors resisted.
Others had been cultivated for months.
Victor reminded them that Elena’s pregnancy prevented her from establishing a clear succession plan.
That was a lie.
Adrian had established one years earlier.
But Victor had altered the digital copy.
At the private hospital, Elena watched the emergency board call through a secure screen.
Victor wore a dark sweater and sat beside a fire.
Snow remained in his hair.
His face displayed grief with astonishing skill.
“I failed to save my wife,” he told the directors. “I will carry that guilt forever.”
Elena’s fingers tightened around the hospital blanket.
Adrian stood behind her.
“He rehearsed that sentence,” she said.
“Probably before the drive.”
Victor continued.
He spoke about Elena’s generosity.
Her devotion to the baby.
Her faith in the company.
Then he requested temporary control of voting rights connected to her estate.
One director asked whether authorities had declared her dead.
Victor’s expression trembled.
“No. But the ocean does not give people back quickly.”
Elena looked toward Adrian.
“How soon can we expose him?”
“When we know every person helping him.”
“You already have his confession.”
“We have enough to destroy Victor. Not necessarily the network that made the insurance and trust changes possible.”
Adrian believed several lawyers, executives, and insurance officials had assisted.
If Elena appeared alive immediately, they would deny knowledge and destroy records.
If Victor believed the plan succeeded, he would contact them.
Elena hated the logic because it was correct.
Dr. Hayes entered and checked the fetal monitor.
The heartbeat had strengthened slightly, but the contractions were becoming more regular.
“You may deliver tonight,” she warned.
Elena looked back at the screen.
Victor had begun crying.
Serena placed one hand on his shoulder.
The image would appear compassionate to anyone who did not know they had stood above the cliff together.
Elena felt the baby move.
A stronger kick this time.
She placed both hands over her stomach.
Victor believed two lives had ended.
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Instead, both were listening.
👉 Victor’s public grief was drawing his accomplices into the open, but Elena’s labor was beginning before she could complete the trap.
