procedures for declaring a missing person dead.

He had also downloaded an old draft of Amelia’s estate plan.

The draft appeared to leave temporary control of several accounts to a surviving spouse.

It had never been signed, but someone had added Amelia’s signature electronically and sent it to a private financial consultant.

Amelia stared at the forged name.

Richard had spent years telling her that money did not matter to him.

When she offered to invest in his business, he had acted offended.

When she suggested a prenuptial agreement before their wedding, he had signed without argument and joked that he was marrying her, not her balance sheet.

That performance had been part of the plan.

Mara showed her building-security footage from the previous weekend.

Richard had entered Amelia’s home office at two in the morning and opened the wall safe.

He removed a folder, photographed several pages, and returned it.

The folder was a decoy.

Amelia’s father had created it after expressing concern about anyone who might marry into the family.

It contained outdated drafts marked with an invisible digital watermark.

Accessing or circulating them would identify anyone attempting to manipulate the estate.

“The real trust gives Richard nothing if you die,” Mara explained.

“Your controlling shares pass into an independent trust for your child.

Until the child reaches adulthood, voting authority remains with three trustees.

Richard is not one of them.”

Amelia felt both relief and nausea.

“He thinks the decoy is real.”

“Yes.”

“And he thinks killing me gives him the company.”

Mara did not soften her answer.

“Yes.”

They contacted Jonah, a former naval rescue officer who had overseen Amelia’s security for four years.

He examined Richard’s recent purchases and found that Richard had booked the helicopter without the usual company pilot.

He had requested an open-door configuration and filed a route over an isolated section of coastline.

The flight was scheduled three days later.

Police could not arrest a man for planning a romantic helicopter ride, and the forged document alone was not enough to prove attempted murder.

Mara advised Amelia to cancel the flight and leave the house.

Amelia nearly agreed.

Then Jonah discovered Richard had increased a private insurance policy on her life.

If the helicopter plan failed, there might be another one.

They decided to let him believe he remained in control while building enough safeguards to keep Amelia alive.

Jonah arranged the hidden camera, the recording brooch, the emergency parachute, and a rescue vessel positioned along the route.

Local investigators were informed that a possible crime was in progress, though only a small team knew the full plan.

Nothing could remove the danger.

It could only reduce it.

Now, as the rescue boat sped toward a private medical facility, Amelia understood how close every safeguard had come to failing.

The parachute could have tangled.

She could have struck the helicopter.

The ocean could have pulled her under before Jonah reached her.

Preparation had not made her fearless.

It had given her something to do while terrified.

At the clinic, doctors examined her for fractures, internal injuries, and complications.

Her shoulder was badly bruised, and the harness had left dark marks across her chest and hips, but the baby’s heartbeat remained strong.

A detective named Elena Ruiz arrived before Amelia had changed