Chapter 6 - THE RETURN BEGINS
Six months after the wedding, Veronika walked without a cane for the first time. Her collarbone had healed crooked, a permanent ridge beneath her skin that she would later say she kept on purpose, as a reminder.
She did not return to her old life all at once. Instead, she and Ingrid built something quieter first: a shell company, registered under a name no one would recognize, through which Veronika began buying back — piece by piece, at a fraction of their worth — the very businesses Alex was liquidating.
He never suspected the buyer. He was too busy celebrating each sale, too busy planning the next one, too busy believing that a dead woman's fortune was simply his now, the way spoils belong to whoever is left standing.
Ingrid, meanwhile, had quietly reactivated contact with the notary — who, once shown evidence of what Alex had actually paid him to hide, agreed to testify in exchange for immunity. He handed over records of a second, private conversation: Alex asking him, weeks before the wedding, exactly how quickly a spouse's death could be converted into legal control of an estate.
It was not proof of murder. Not yet. But it was proof of intent, and intent, Ingrid knew, was often the thread that unraveled the rest.
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Veronika read the notary's statement twice, then set it down and looked out at the ocean that had once tried to kill her.
"He's going to make one more mistake," she said. "Men like him always do. They can't help showing off."
