Chapter 6 - THE WEDDING THAT WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN
The more investigators uncovered, the worse the truth became.
Rebecca Lane had been paid by Ethan.
Martin had been paid by Ethan.
The insurance documents had been forged.
And the call that sent me onto the road the night of my accident had come from Rebecca.
But there was still one question.
Why?
The police brought Rebecca in for questioning.
At first, she denied everything.
Then they showed her the financial records.
Her story changed.
She admitted Ethan had paid her.
But she insisted she had not known about the accident.
“I thought he wanted to scare her,” she said.
The detective stared at her.
“What did he tell you?”
Rebecca began crying.
“He said Camila needed to be frightened.”
“Why?”
“Because she had discovered the affair.”
I closed my eyes.
Ethan had told Rebecca to call me.
He had told her to claim there was an emergency.
He had known I would drive to the venue.
He had known the road.
He had known the weather.
He had known the conditions.
But had he planned the accident?
That was what investigators were trying to determine.
Rebecca claimed he had never directly said it.
But she had received fifty thousand dollars.
And after the accident, another payment.
The second payment was labeled:
Problem solved.
I read that phrase three times.
My hands shook.
Daniel sat beside me.
“Camila, you don’t have to read all of this.”
“Yes, I do.”
“You’ve already been through enough.”
“No.”
I looked at him.
“I spent two years believing I was simply unlucky.”
He said nothing.
“I thought I was imagining things when Ethan started changing.”
I looked at the documents.
“I thought I was crazy.”
“You weren’t.”
“I thought the accident was my fault.”
“It wasn’t.”
I closed the folder.
“I need to know everything.”
The police eventually arrested Ethan.
The charges were serious.
Fraud.
Forgery.
Conspiracy.
Insurance fraud.
And potential attempted murder.
The last charge depended on proving intent.
Ethan insisted he had never wanted me dead.
He claimed the accident was unexpected.
He claimed the insurance money was a coincidence.
He claimed the recordings had been taken out of context.
But the evidence kept growing.
Then the police found something in Ethan’s old apartment.
A notebook.
It contained dates.
Payments.
Names.
And one sentence written three days before my accident.
If she signs the policy, everything changes.
My signature had been forged two weeks earlier.
The policy had been changed.
Then I had been lured onto the road.
The question was no longer whether Ethan had planned something.
It was how much he had planned.
Lila cooperated with investigators.
She gave them access to Ethan’s emails.
That was when they discovered the financial motive.
Ethan was deeply in debt.
He had lost money through risky investments.
He owed nearly two million dollars.
The insurance payout would have covered most of it.
But there was another problem.
Ethan had also been stealing from his company.
He had been using corporate funds to maintain his lifestyle.
The affair had been expensive.
The apartment.
The vacations.
The jewelry.
The wedding.
Everything had been financed through money he did not have.
If I had died, he would have received the insurance payout.
If I had signed the divorce agreement, he would have controlled the house.
And if I had been too afraid to investigate…
He would have escaped.
The divorce settlement suddenly looked different.
The house he had offered me was not generosity.
It was a distraction.
He had wanted me to sign away any claim to the finances.
He had wanted me to disappear.
And when I refused to sign immediately, he had become desperate.
I remembered the night he had begged me to sign.
“Camila, this is better for everyone.”
I had asked him why he was in such a hurry.
He had looked at me.
And smiled.
“Because I want to move on.”
Now I understood.
He had not wanted to move on.
He had wanted to make sure I could never look back.
The trial was scheduled for the following year.
Until then, Ethan remained in custody.
I thought that would bring me peace.
It didn’t.
Because one question continued to haunt me.
Why had Noah found the recorder?
Why had Ethan hidden it under the floor?
And what else had been inside that metal box?
The answer came two weeks later.
A second flash drive had been discovered.
It contained one video.
The video showed Ethan speaking to someone in a hotel room.
And the person sitting across from him was Lila.
May you like
But the conversation was not about me.
It was about Noah.
