Chapter 4 - THE GHOST OF THE OPERATING ROOM"You heard me," Hilda sneered, rain dripping from the brim of her cardigan. "Two years ago. The night Elena died. You remember the ambulance, don't you? You remember standing in the hallway crying while the paramedics wheeled her away."
"She had a massive aneurysm," I breathed, the memory tearing open old wounds I had spent a fortune trying to stitch shut. "The doctors did everything they could."
"The doctors did what I paid them to do," Hilda said smoothly, leaning against the truck door as if we were discussing grocery lists. "Elena found out what I was doing. She found the initial discrepancies in the household accounts three weeks before she 'died.' She told me she was going to tell you the next morning after your board meeting."
My vision blurred. The roaring of the rain in the depot sounded like a freight train rushing toward me.
"You..." I stepped forward, the gun rising again. "You poisoned her."
"Poison is messy, Gabriel. Too many forensic trails," Hilda laughed softly, the sound chillingly melodic against the thunder. "Just a minor adjustment to her evening heart medication. A slow-acting vasodilator that mimics a sudden, catastrophic brain bleed. By the time the paramedics arrived, her blood pressure had dropped so low her brain was starved of oxygen. The autopsy report? Pristine. Signed off by Dr. Vance—whose clinic happens to be heavily funded by one of my shell corporations."
The world seemed to tilt on its axis. Every protective instinct, every locked door, every security camera I had installed to keep my family safe—it had all been a cruel joke orchestrated by the woman standing ten feet in front of me. I hadn't built a fortress. I had built a mausoleum.
"And my daughters?" I choked out, the rage in my chest turning into a suffocating agony. "Why starve them? Why let Sarah feed them through a window like stray dogs?"
Hilda’s expression hardened, her eyes narrowing with genuine malice. "Because punishment isn't just about money, Gabriel. It’s about control. I wanted you to watch your own children waste away while you sat in your ivory tower, believing you were a protective father. I wanted you to feel helpless, just like Elena felt on that floor while I watched her choke on her own breath."
She jerked the truck door open and tossed the metal briefcase onto the passenger seat.
May you like
"Goodbye, Gabriel. Enjoy the rest of your empire."
She climbed inside. The engine roared to life.
