Chapter 2
Detective Hannah Brooks placed three photographs across my hospital blanket.
The first showed Sabrina holding two little boys outside a private school.
The second showed Christian walking with them in Paris.
The third showed an older man entering the same apartment.
“Who is he?” I asked.
“Victor Lang.”
Gabriel, standing beside my bed, immediately reacted.
“I know that name.”
I looked at him.
“How?”
“Victor owns Apex Media.”
My stomach tightened.
Apex Media controlled several entertainment magazines, streaming companies, and music publications.
They had helped turn Christian into a global star.
Hannah nodded.
“And Victor is Sabrina’s legal husband.”
I stared at her.
“She’s married?”
“For nine years.”
“What about Christian?”
“No marriage license exists between them.”
“So their secret wedding was fake?”
“Legally, yes.”
That made no sense.
“Then why hold a ceremony?”
Hannah pulled out another document.
“Because it wasn’t about marriage.”
It was about contracts.
The ceremony had been staged to bring investors, executives, and family members together.
Christian planned to announce a private business partnership after the vows.
A partnership transferring control of several entertainment companies into a new holding corporation.
Sabrina would manage it.
Victor would finance it.
Christian would be the public face.
“And me?”
Hannah looked uncomfortable.
“You were valuable too.”
She showed me another file.
My father had founded a music publishing company before he died.
I inherited forty percent.
Christian had repeatedly encouraged me to place my shares into a joint marital trust after our wedding.
I always refused.
Suddenly everything became clear.
“He didn’t just want me as a public wife.”
“No.”
“He wanted my company.”
Gabriel leaned against the wall, furious.
Hannah continued.
Investigators had found emails between Christian and Sabrina discussing my shares.
One message read:
AFTER THE WEDDING, SHE’LL SIGN.
Another:
IF SHE REFUSES, USE THE HEALTH FILES.
My skin went cold.
“What health files?”
Hannah opened a folder.
Private psychiatric evaluations.
Except I had never had psychiatric evaluations.
The reports described me as unstable.
Paranoid.
Emotionally volatile.
Potentially incapable of managing large financial assets.
“They’re fake.”
“We know.”
“Who created them?”
“The same doctor who altered your medication.”
Dr. Marcus Feld.
The physician I trusted during both pregnancies.
My hands began trembling.
“He was building a case against me.”
Hannah nodded.
“If Christian married you and later claimed you were medically incapable, he might seek control of marital assets.”
Gabriel swore quietly.
I remembered Christian repeatedly telling me I was forgetful after my miscarriages.
Too emotional.
Too fragile.
He had been preparing a story.
Then Hannah showed me bank transfers.
Christian had paid the attacker through a shell company.
But the money didn’t originate from Christian’s personal account.
It came from Apex Media.
Victor Lang’s company.
“So Victor paid for the attack too?”
“We don’t know yet.”
The door opened.
A federal financial investigator named Daniel Price entered.
“Detective.”
Hannah stood.
“What happened?”
“We traced Apex’s account.”
“And?”
Daniel looked at me.
“The transfer was authorized by someone using Victor Lang’s credentials.”
“So Victor did it.”
Daniel shook his head.
“Victor Lang died three months ago.”
Silence.
I stared at him.
“That’s impossible. You just showed me a recent photograph.”
“The photograph was taken six months ago.”
“What happened to him?”
“Officially? Heart attack.”
Gabriel looked at Hannah.
“You don’t believe that.”
“No.”
Daniel continued.
“Victor’s death was never publicly announced.”
“Why?”
“Because Sabrina has been running Apex under his identity.”
My stomach turned.
She had hidden her husband’s death.
Used his accounts.
Used his authority.
And helped Christian build an entire secret life.
Then Hannah’s phone rang.
She listened.
Her expression changed.
“What?”
She ended the call.
“Sabrina is gone.”
“From where?”
“She disappeared before police could arrest her.”
Gabriel stepped forward.
“How?”
“Someone inside Christian’s security team helped her.”
My phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A video appeared.
Sabrina sat inside a car.
She stared directly into the camera.
“You think Christian was the one who destroyed your pregnancies?”
She smiled.
“He didn’t even know the first time.”
Then the video ended.
I looked at Hannah.
“What does she mean?”
Another message arrived.
May you like
ASK GABRIEL WHERE HE WAS THE NIGHT YOU LOST YOUR FIRST BABY.
Slowly, everyone turned toward him.
