CHAPTER 4
The fragile woman slowly lifted her head, revealing sunken cheeks, dark hollow eyes, and a face that matched the framed portraits hanging in Adrian's study.
She flinched violently at the sound of my voice, pulling the blanket higher up to her chin as tears began streaming down her pale, weathered skin.
"Please... don't let Margaret come back," Lydia sobbed, her voice a barely audible, broken rasp that tore straight through my heart. "Please... I gave them the security codes... I didn't tell anyone about the offshore accounts..."
I dropped to my knees beside her hospital bed, keeping my hands visible and low so I wouldn't startle her fragile, shattered nervous system.
"Margaret can't hurt you anymore, Lydia," I said gently, my own tears welling up as I looked at the woman who had suffered my intended fate. "Adrian and his mother are in federal custody. They are never getting out."
Lydia stared at me for a long, agonizing moment, her trembling fingers reaching out to touch the soft fabric of my jacket as if testing if I was real.
"Who are you?" she asked faintly, her bloodshot eyes searching my face with a mixture of confusion and desperate hope.
"My name is Evelyn," I replied softly, taking her cold hand in mine with absolute gentleness. "I am... I was Adrian's second wife. I found the hidden trapdoor in the shed three days ago."
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Lydia let out a ragged, trembling breath, her shoulders collapsing as six years of unimaginable horror finally broke under the weight of freedom.
"They kept me down there because I found the secondary ledgers," Lydia whispered, her eyes widening in terror as the memories flooded back. "Charles and Adrian... they aren't real estate investors, Evelyn. They are laundering money for the European syndicate."
