CHAPTER 2 — THE HUSBAND WHO COULDN'T WAIT
The ambulance arrived within minutes.
Doctors surrounded Victoria's body while shocked guests watched in complete silence.
One doctor suddenly frowned.
"She's alive."
Gasps filled the chapel.
Barely alive.
Her heartbeat was dangerously slow.
Her breathing almost invisible.
Someone had injected her with an extremely powerful sedative that mimicked death.
"If the coffin had been sealed another hour..."
The doctor looked around the room.
"...she would've suffocated."
Every eye slowly turned toward Richard.
His face remained expressionless.
Too expressionless.
Emma stood quietly near the chapel doors.
She remembered everything.
Three nights earlier...
She had been cleaning Victoria's bedroom when Richard quietly entered carrying a small black medical case.
He smiled when he noticed Emma.
"You can leave."
She obeyed.
But before closing the door...
She heard Victoria whisper.
"I feel dizzy..."
Richard answered softly.
"It's only medicine."
Emma hadn't thought much about it.
Until this morning.
When she saw Richard personally insisting the coffin remain closed.
No viewing.
No touching.
No final goodbye.
Everything suddenly made sense.
Police officers began asking questions.
Richard answered calmly.
"My wife suffered heart problems."
"The doctor confirmed it."
"My lawyer has every medical record."
Everything sounded perfect.
Almost too perfect.
Then Emma remembered something else.
While cleaning the bedroom...
She had accidentally picked up a small empty syringe hidden beneath the bed.
Thinking it was trash...
She had thrown it into the mansion's recycling bin.
She raced outside.
The garbage truck hadn't arrived yet.
With trembling hands she tore open the bags.
Food scraps.
Broken glass.
Old newspapers.
Then...
She found it.
The syringe.
Still inside a clear evidence bag from the mansion's private clinic.
She handed it directly to the police detective.
Within hours...
Laboratory results came back.
The syringe contained a rare experimental drug capable of slowing the heart almost to complete silence.
Only one person had purchased it.
Richard Ashcroft.
When detectives returned to arrest him...
He was gone.
His phone.
Gone.
His passport.
Gone.
His private helicopter.
Gone.
Standing in the hospital hallway, Emma stared through the ICU window at Victoria, still unconscious.
She whispered,
"Please wake up..."
Because she knew...
Richard wasn't running from prison.
May you like
He was running to finish what he'd started.
END OF CHAPTER 2
