She swallowed.
“Michael had been stealing from your company for years.”
I froze.
The company my father had left me.
The company Michael had convinced me to let him help manage.
“How much?”
“Almost eighteen million dollars.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“And the insurance?”
Ashley nodded.
“That was his way of
replacing the money before anyone discovered it.”
Suddenly everything made sense.
The arguments.
The pressure.
The sudden insistence that I change my will.
The hiking trip.
The fifty-million-dollar policy.
He wasn’t simply trying to become rich.
He was trying to erase his crime.
And I was the only person standing between him and freedom.
Ashley lowered her voice.
“He planned to kill you, collect the insurance, and make the missing company money disappear inside the payout.”
I stared at the screen.
“How did you know?”
“Because I helped him.”
The admission hung between us.
“You?”
“I arranged the hiking trip. I made the reservations. I helped him create the story that you wanted a private weekend away.”
She began crying harder.
“But when I realized he actually intended to kill you, I tried to stop him.”
“You were there.”
“Yes.”
“You watched him push me.”
Ashley closed her eyes.
“I
did.”
Anger surged through me.
“You left me there.”
“I was terrified.”
“You left me to die.”
“I know.”
Her voice broke.
“And I’ve hated myself every second since.”
The officer stepped closer.
“Why come here now?”
