Chapter 3 - The Accident They Had Already Written
The next morning, one of Julian’s executives came to the hospital voluntarily.
His name was Marcus Lee, chief operating officer of Vance Meridian Logistics.
He looked like a man who hadn’t slept.
“I should have stopped it,” he said.
“Yes,” I answered.
He flinched.
Good.
“I thought Julian was humiliating you,” Marcus continued. “I didn’t understand he was planning to hurt you.”
“What did you see?”
He told me Julian had instructed the company media contractor to film the marina activities because the retreat was supposed to produce “leadership culture content” for investors.
That part wasn’t unusual.
What was unusual was the direction Julian gave before I arrived.
Get footage showing Genevieve nervous around water.
Get the whole trust argument.
Make sure everyone hears her refuse before she changes her mind.
I stared at Marcus.
“He wanted footage of me refusing?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I thought it was some ugly marital thing.”
Then Marcus gave Detective Ortiz his phone.
On it was a message from Julian sent at 11:07 that morning:
If Gen gets dramatic about the jet skis, let cameras roll. Don’t interfere unless I tell you.
Ortiz read it twice.
The supposed accident now had a beginning.
A pregnant woman publicly hesitates.
Her husband teases her.
She eventually gets on the water.
Something goes wrong.
Tragic.
Reckless.
Unfortunate.
But there was a problem with that story.
I had never changed my mind.
Julian had drugged me.
The marina’s private security cameras filled in the gap.
At 1:42 p.m., I was seen walking unsteadily toward a service corridor with Julian supporting me by the elbow.
At 1:47, Victoria entered the same corridor carrying a life jacket.
At 1:53, a dock employee saw Julian and Victoria moving what he thought was “a drunk guest” toward the marina.
Me.
There was no consent.
There was only staging.
Julian was arrested that afternoon on charges related to aggravated battery, poisoning, false imprisonment, and attempted homicide pending further review.
Victoria was arrested too.
But before police took her, she said something to Detective Ortiz that would matter later.
“He told me she’d never make it back to shore.”
Ortiz asked, “Who?”
Victoria looked toward Julian through the glass doors of the interview room.
“My idiot boyfriend.”
Then she added:
“And he said if the baby died too, everything became easier.”
At the time, everyone assumed she meant inheritance.
May you like
So did I.
We were wrong.
