A Poor Woman Was Forced to Marry a Sleeping Billionaire — Then the Man Everyone Thought Was Unconscious Revealed He Had Heard Every Word.

PART 6

They went to the police with Delphine’s statement, but Odalys had begun calling reporters. The yellow-house painting could disappear within hours.

Wren proposed returning to the Ashcombe home to collect her clothes. Owen would wait outside with investigators. She would wear a recording device.

At four that afternoon, Wren walked alone up the steps of the townhouse.

Odalys opened the door wearing Wren’s wedding gift: a sapphire bracelet from Genevieve.

“The grateful bride returns.”

“I came for my mother’s things.”

Nadia appeared at the top of the stairs. “Is Weston actually awake?”

“Yes.”

“So you get everything.”

“You were free to say no. I wasn’t.”

Odalys slapped Wren.

Wren did not strike back. She looked directly into the necklace camera. “You will never touch me again.”

She went to the basement. She found her mother’s winter coat, the chipped blue bowl Delphine used for bread dough, and a portfolio of Wren’s childhood art.

The yellow house was gone.

“Looking for this?” Nadia stood on the stairs holding the framed watercolor.

“May I see it?”

“What is behind it?”

Wren’s silence answered.

“They are going to blame me,” Nadia whispered. “Mom and Mr. Bram. He came last night. He said if the marriage failed, someone would have to explain the payments.”

“Give me the painting. You can still tell the truth.”

Footsteps crossed the floor above.

Nadia descended and thrust the frame at Wren. “I didn’t know about your mother. Not at first.”

The basement door slammed shut.

A lock turned.

Smoke curled beneath it.