I would not become careless just because I had been wounded.
“What happens now?” I asked.
“Now, Victor believes the storm destroyed evidence. He believes the body cannot be recovered until conditions clear. He believes he has time to shape the story.”
“And you’ll let him?”
“For now.”
I stared at him.
Adrian’s face remained calm, but his eyes did not. “If we move too quickly, he denies everything. He says you are traumatized and confused. He says the fall was an accident. He says your injuries affected your memory. He produces sympathy, lawyers, photographs of the grieving husband. People want simple stories, Elena. We need the truth to become heavier than his performance.”
His words settled inside me.
The truth had weight.
It needed gathering.
It needed patience.
It needed me alive.
I looked down at my stomach. “Then I’ll stay dead a little longer.”
Adrian did not respond immediately.
