Chapter 5 - THE ASSISTANT’S TESTIMONY
Marlene arrived before midnight.
A cut crossed her forehead.
Blood stained the sleeve of her coat.
She would not enter the mansion until Serena had been moved to another wing.
Detective Ruiz arranged the separation.
Victor met Marlene inside the library.
Lily remained in the medical wing with Ethan.
Marlene sat on the edge of a leather chair.
Her hands would not stop shaking.
“Serena said I knew too much,” she whispered.
“What do you know?” Victor asked.
Marlene looked toward the closed doors.
“She planned to remove Ethan before the wedding.”
“Where?”
“A private clinic in Wisconsin.”
“Why?”
“She wanted him declared medically fragile.”
“She said repeated breathing episodes would prove he needed residential care.”
Victor’s hands closed into fists.
“What breathing episodes?”
“The sedatives.”
“The formula changes.”
“The vapor treatment she ordered Dr. Price to prescribe.”
Victor remembered Ethan’s recent coughing.
Price had claimed the baby suffered from early asthma.
He prescribed daily treatments.
Sofia had questioned the diagnosis but lacked access to Price’s full records.
Marlene continued.
“Once Ethan entered the clinic, Serena would file the guardianship petition.”
“She planned to marry you.”
“Then she planned for you to die.”
No one moved.
Ruiz leaned forward.
“How?”
“During the Blackwood Foundation gala.”
“The ballroom balcony.”
“She paid someone to weaken the railing.”
Victor knew the balcony.
He gave a speech there every year.
The gala was scheduled two days after the wedding.
Marlene took a memory card from her coat.
“I copied her messages.”
“She found out.”
“She tried to take the card.”
“She struck me with a bottle near the lake.”
“I pretended to fall into the water.”
“Then I hid beneath the dock until she left.”
Ruiz took the card.
The messages showed Serena communicating with someone named M.P.
They discussed medication doses, guardianship hearings, and the gala balcony.
Another conversation involved a man called Dominic Crane.
Victor recognized the name.
Crane ran a rival organization on the South Side.
He had spent years trying to seize Blackwood shipping routes.
Serena had promised Crane access to Victor’s legitimate ports after his death.
Ruiz looked toward Victor.
“This is bigger than one woman.”
Victor’s face became cold.
“It always is.”
Marlene began crying.
“I am sorry.”
“I helped her create the false passport.”
“I placed the money in Lily’s room.”
“Why?” Victor asked.
“Serena said Lily was working for Crane.”
“She showed me messages.”
“I believed her.”
“Then why copy Serena’s conversations?”
“Because I saw her hurt Ethan.”
“She held his face beneath cold water when he would not stop crying.”
Victor stood so quickly that the chair struck the floor.
Marlene flinched.
He forced himself to stop.
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“Where was Lily?”
“Serena sent her to the pharmacy.”
Victor looked toward the ceiling as if the mansion itself had betrayed him.
Then Marlene whispered one final detail.
“Isabella knew Serena.”
Victor slowly looked at her.
May you like
“What did you say?”
“Your wife knew her before she died.”
