Chapter 4 - The Dark Secret
I kicked Mark as hard as I could in the shin and slipped out of his grasp. He stumbled backward and dropped the syringe onto the hospital floor. I screamed for help at the top of my lungs, catching the attention of a nearby security guard. Mark instantly changed his demeanor, holding his hands up and pretending to be the victim. He told the guard that I was suffering from a severe mental breakdown due to my daughter's condition. The guard looked at me with pity and asked if I needed a sedative. I realized that no one in this hospital would ever believe my crazy story without hard proof. I backed away from them both and ran directly out of the emergency room doors. I needed to find my lawyer and trusted childhood friend, David. I hailed a passing taxi and ordered the driver to take me to David's downtown office. When I arrived, I burst into his office and frantically explained everything I had discovered. David listened intently, his face turning pale as I described the security footage and the burner phone. He pulled up my family's financial records on his secure legal database. David confirmed that Mark had indeed forged my signature to open a massive life insurance policy. But that was not the most shocking thing David found in the hidden files. He turned his computer monitor around to show me a series of massive bank transfers. Mark had been secretly wiring hundreds of thousands of dollars to a criminal defense attorney in another state. I asked David why my husband would need an out-of-state defense lawyer. David hesitated, looking at me with an expression of profound sadness. He explained that Mark was currently under federal investigation for a string of unsolved murders. My husband was not just a greedy, cheating liar who wanted insurance money. He was a highly organized serial killer, and I was scheduled to be his next victim. David told me we needed to go to the FBI headquarters immediately to secure my protection. I agreed, following him out of the office and into the underground parking garage. As we walked toward his car, a dark van suddenly screeched to a halt right in front of us. The side door slid open, and a man in a black mask leveled a shotgun directly at my chest.
