My pregnant daughter was in a coffin—and her husband showed up like it was a celebration. He walked in laughing with his mistress on his arm…

The sound nearly destroyed me.

“Stop being dramatic,” Adrian’s recorded voice answered coldly. “Drink the tea.”

“It burns…”

“Vanessa got it from someone natural,” Adrian laughed on the recording. “It’ll calm you down. And if something happens to the baby? Well, everyone already thinks you’re unstable.”

Gasps echoed through the sanctuary.

“You won’t get the company,” Claire whispered weakly on the recording. “I know about the shares.”

A loud crash sounded.

Then Adrian’s furious voice:

“You stupid woman. You think you’ll live long enough to use them?”

The recording ended abruptly.

Silence swallowed the room whole.

“Adrian Cross,” Detective Cole announced, pulling him upright, “you are under arrest for the murder of Claire Cross and her unborn child.”

Adrian thrashed wildly.

“You think you’ve won?” he screamed at me. “That company belongs to me!”

I stared at him calmly.

“You built nothing,” I said quietly. “You inherited power. And now you’ve lost it.”

As officers dragged him down the aisle, Vanessa suddenly tried to flee through a side exit.

They caught her immediately.

“Vanessa Hale,” an officer announced, placing her in cuffs, “you are under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder and corporate fraud.”

She collapsed into sobs as they led her away.

The church doors slammed shut behind them.

The reporters rushed outside to break the story. Board members were already making frantic phone calls. Mourners slowly left the pews, too stunned to speak.

Soon only Walter, my sister, and I remained.

I turned back toward Claire’s coffin.

My shaking hand rested against the polished wood.

My daughter knew they were coming for her.