Chapter 4 — The Plan for Emily
Sophia was taken into a private room while police secured the ballroom.
The wedding guests were ordered to remain until statements could be taken.
Lucas sat with Emily on a couch near the lobby.
A paramedic checked the little girl for injection marks.
“No punctures,” the woman said. “She doesn’t appear to have been drugged.”
Lucas closed his eyes briefly.
It was the first breath he had taken in what felt like hours.
Emily touched his face.
“Are you mad at me?”
His eyes opened.
“What?”
“Because the wedding is broken.”
Lucas pulled her against him.
“No, sweetheart. You didn’t break anything.”
“But Sophia said you’d hate me.”
Lucas’s voice caught.
“She lied.”
Emily looked toward the ballroom.
“Are you still going to marry her?”
“No.”
“Ever?”
“Never.”
The answer came without hesitation.
Emily finally relaxed against him.
Across the lobby, Detective Elena Morris examined the forged passport and documents.
She approached Lucas with a grave expression.
“We found more materials in the bridal suite.”
“What kind?”
“Travel tickets, a burner phone, and emails arranging for a child to be placed in a residential facility outside Geneva.”
Lucas stared at her.
“She was going to send Emily away.”
“It appears so.”
“Without my knowledge?”
“She planned to make it look as though you had approved it.”
Lucas’s hands curled into fists.
Detective Morris continued.
“There’s another problem.”
She handed him a printed email.
The sender was Richard Vale.
The message read:
Once the marriage certificate is signed, Lucas’s assets become vulnerable. The child must be removed before she can interfere with inheritance control.
Lucas read it twice.
Then a third time.
“They were after my company.”
“Possibly more than that.”
“What do you mean?”
The detective placed another document in front of him.
It was a copy of Lucas’s life insurance policy.
The beneficiary had been changed three weeks earlier.
From Emily Bennett.
To Sophia Vale.
Lucas looked up slowly.
“I never authorized this.”
Detective Morris nodded.
“We suspected that.”
A police officer approached from the ballroom.
“Detective, we found something in Richard Vale’s car.”
He held up a transparent evidence bag.
Inside was a small bottle labeled with Lucas’s name.
The prescription was for a heart medication Lucas had never taken.
The officer’s expression was grim.
“The dosage inside would be fatal to someone without a heart condition.”
Lucas looked toward the room where Sophia was being held.
May you like
The wedding had never been about love.
It had been an execution plan.
