Chapter 1 - Play Dead
Freezing water reached Charlotte Ashford Mercer’s chest before she understood that Ethan was not coming to save her.
“ETHAN!”
She slammed both palms against the driver-side window.
Outside, beyond fractured sheets of ice, her husband stood safely on the snowy shore of Ashford Lake.
Dry.
Uninjured.
Watching.
Charlotte yanked at her seat belt again.
It would not release.
The black SUV tilted farther forward as water poured through the damaged passenger window.
“Ethan!”
He could see her.
She knew he could.
She saw his face beneath the yellow light from the boathouse.
Beside him stood Madeline Ashford.
Charlotte’s cousin.
The woman who had grown up spending summers with her at this very estate.
Madeline touched Ethan’s cheek.
Then Ethan pulled her into his arms.
Charlotte stopped struggling for one terrible second.
No.
The freezing water seemed suddenly less shocking than what she was seeing.
Ethan and Madeline were not panicking.
They were not calling for help.
They were waiting.
For the SUV to disappear.
For Charlotte to die.
The vehicle sank another few inches.
Water reached her shoulders.
Behind her came a metallic squeak.
Charlotte twisted around.
Ruth Miller sat in the second row beneath the gray wool blanket that had covered her legs since they left the main house.
For twelve years, Ruth had used a wheelchair.
Charlotte had known her since childhood.
Ruth had once been the Ashford family’s trust administrator and chief financial officer before a terrible highway crash shattered her pelvis and damaged her spine.
Everyone believed she could no longer walk.
Now Ruth pushed the blanket aside.
Placed both feet firmly on the flooded floor.
And stood.
Charlotte forgot the cold.
“Ruth?”
Ruth leaned forward.
“Quiet.”
“You can walk?”
“Play dead.”
“What?”
“They’re watching.”
Ruth pulled a compact emergency cutter from beneath the wheelchair cushion.
Charlotte stared.
Ruth reached beside Charlotte’s seat.
“Hold still.”
“What are you doing?”
“Finding what I expected.”
The SUV lurched.
Charlotte’s mouth went beneath the water for half a second.
She coughed violently.
Ruth raised the cutter.
There.
Wrapped around the seat-belt latch housing was a thin metal wire secured beneath the seat frame.
Charlotte stared at it.
“That—”
“Was put there deliberately.”
Ruth sliced through it.
The seat belt released.
Charlotte stumbled upward.
“This wasn’t an accident.”
“No.”
“Ethan—”
“Later.”
Ruth grabbed the wheelchair.
Charlotte stared.
“You’re taking that?”
“I need them to find it.”
Ruth folded it and shoved it toward the rear cargo area as the SUV sank.
Evidence of Ruth’s supposed helplessness.
Evidence that two trapped women could never have escaped.
Then Ruth pulled two small emergency breathing mouthpieces from inside her coat.
Charlotte stared.
“You planned this?”
“I prepared for it.”
“For what?”
“Charlotte, breathe.”
The SUV dropped.
Black water swallowed the windows.
Charlotte instinctively kicked toward the roof.
Ruth seized her wrist.
“No.”
Charlotte fought her.
“The surface!”
“Not there.”
Ruth pointed through the submerged rear opening toward the shadow of the old wooden pier.
“They will watch the hole.”
Charlotte’s lungs screamed.
Ruth pushed the emergency mouthpiece toward her.
“Use it.”
Charlotte bit down.
Air.
Not much.
Enough.
They swam through the freezing water beneath the broken ice.
Charlotte’s coat dragged behind her.
Her fingers went numb.
Ruth moved with astonishing strength for a woman everyone believed had been unable to stand for twelve years.
The ancient pier supports appeared through the dark water.
Ruth pulled Charlotte between two massive wooden posts.
They surfaced beneath the pier where the boards hid them from the shore.
Charlotte gasped.
Her body shook so violently her teeth struck together.
Ruth pressed a hand over her mouth.
“Quiet.”
Through a narrow opening, they could see Ethan.
Madeline stood beside him.
The roof of the SUV disappeared.
Ethan stared at the broken ice.
Then checked his watch.
Charlotte’s heart broke in a clean, silent line.
Madeline whispered something.
Ethan answered.
Charlotte could not hear.
Then Ethan kissed her cousin’s forehead.
Ruth removed her hand.
Charlotte whispered, “How long?”
Ruth looked at her.
“How long what?”
“You.”
Her voice shook.
“Twelve years?”
Ruth said nothing.
“You pretended you couldn’t walk for twelve years?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Ruth looked toward Ethan.
“I needed his family to believe the accident worked.”
Charlotte froze.
“What accident?”
“My crash.”
Charlotte stared.
Ruth’s expression was almost unnaturally calm.
“My brakes didn’t fail.”
“Who did it?”
Ruth looked through the gap again.
At Ethan.
Then said, “His father.”
Victor Mercer.
Ethan’s father was one of the most respected property attorneys in New York.
He had represented the Ashford family for almost twenty years.
Charlotte felt suddenly sick.
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying Victor Mercer tried to kill me twelve years ago because I found what he was doing to your family’s estate.”
Charlotte looked back toward Ethan.
The man she married four years ago.
The man she had trusted with her finances.
Her health.
Her future.
“So Ethan married me for the estate?”
Ruth’s answer came quietly.
“Not only for that.”
Charlotte turned.
Ruth looked genuinely afraid now.
“Remember those vitamins he makes you take every night?”
Charlotte’s breathing changed.
Ethan placing the bottle beside her tea.
Ethan smiling.
“You missed yesterday.”
Ethan removing the capsule from the bottle himself.
Ethan insisting the supplements helped with stress.
Charlotte whispered, “What about them?”
“I saw him switch them.”
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
“With what?”
“Unmarked capsules.”
Charlotte stared.
“You knew and didn’t tell me?”
“I stole one. I needed proof.”
“Proof of what?”
Ruth’s jaw tightened.
“I had it privately tested.”
Charlotte’s stomach turned.
“What has my husband been giving me?”
A siren sounded in the distance.
Ethan finally took out his phone.
Only now.
After the SUV had disappeared.
After he believed Charlotte could no longer be saved.
Ruth looked at her.
“Two prescription compounds.”
Charlotte’s teeth chattered.
“What kind?”
“One can cause sedation, confusion, and memory problems.”
Charlotte remembered waking exhausted.
Losing words.
Forgetting meetings.
Ethan telling her she was under too much pressure.
“And the other?”
Ruth hesitated.
“A hormone.”
Charlotte went still.
“What kind of hormone?”
“One commonly used to suppress ovulation.”
Charlotte stopped breathing.
She and Ethan had been trying to have a baby for nearly two years.
Or she thought they had.
Ruth whispered, “Charlotte, they didn’t just want control of your estate.”
On shore, Ethan finally shouted for emergency responders.
His performance had begun.
May you like
Ruth looked directly into Charlotte’s eyes.
“They needed to make sure you never had an heir.”
