Chapter 6 - The Woman Who Came Back)
Victoria was gone for nine hours.
Richard called her twice.
Both calls went unanswered.
Marcus tracked the mansion gate logs.
Victoria's car had left at 1:14 p.m.
At 1:22, Adrian's car followed.
The main security server was discovered wiped at 1:40.
An outside technician confirmed that the deletion had been initiated remotely using an administrator account.
The account belonged to Marcus.
Marcus had not used it.
Someone had copied his credentials.
Again.
Richard felt as though every room in his home had been entered while he was sleeping.
Every system he trusted had been touched.
Every weakness had been studied.
The mansion no longer felt like a home.
It felt occupied.
Sarah and Ethan remained at Rebecca's house.
Richard wanted them there until Victoria was gone permanently.
At seven that evening, Richard sat in his study with Jonathan.
The engagement ring box was on the desk.
Victoria had left the ring behind.
"She knows," Richard said.
"Partially."
"She knows enough."
Jonathan nodded.
Richard looked out the window.
"Why come after Ethan's trust? She has money."
Victoria's family was not poor.
But the Hales had spent wealth faster than they created it.
Adrian's investment firm had suffered two failed deals.
Victoria had debts hidden beneath expensive clothes and polished appearances.
Jonathan's investigation uncovered loans.
Millions.
Richard had never known.
"She needed access to capital," Jonathan said.
"She could have asked me for help."
"Would you have given her twenty million dollars?"
Richard looked at him.
"No."
"Then she knew the answer."
At 10:06 p.m., the front gate called.
Victoria had returned.
Richard stood.
Jonathan looked alarmed.
"Do not be alone with her."
"I'm not afraid of Victoria."
"Fear isn't the issue."
Richard almost laughed.
"What is?"
"People who believe they are losing everything become unpredictable."
Victoria entered the mansion wearing the same clothes she had left in.
She looked exhausted.
No makeup.
No jewelry except the engagement ring, which she had apparently retrieved from somewhere else.
She walked into the study.
Marcus remained outside.
Jonathan sat near the fireplace.
Victoria looked at both men.
"Am I on trial?"
Richard pointed toward the chair.
"Sit."
She remained standing.
"Where's Ethan?"
"Safe."
"With Sarah?"
"Safe."
Victoria closed her eyes.
When she opened them, tears appeared.
Real tears this time.
Or good enough to be indistinguishable.
"Richard, I know what this looks like."
"What does it look like?"
"Like I panicked."
"You stole security records."
"No."
"You copied keys."
Her face changed.
"You searched my estate documents."
Silence.
"You planted money in Sarah's room."
"That isn't true."
"Claire confessed."
Victoria's expression collapsed for one second.
Then rebuilt itself.
"Claire is unstable."
Richard stared at her.
"Do you hear yourself?"
"Richard, listen to me."
"No. You have spent months making sure everyone listens to you. Now you listen."
Victoria's breathing quickened.
"You are leaving this house tonight."
She shook her head.
"Please."
"The wedding is canceled."
"Richard."
"The engagement is over."
She stepped toward him.
"I love you."
He looked at her with something worse than anger.
Disappointment.
"No."
Victoria flinched.
"You loved what I gave you after Caroline died."
Richard's face tightened.
"You knew exactly what I needed."
"I was there for you."
"You studied me."
"That isn't fair."
"You studied my grief. You studied my son. You studied my money."
Victoria's voice cracked.
"I never hurt Ethan."
Richard moved closer.
"Then why did he wake screaming after seven minutes disappeared from the nursery camera?"
Her face went blank.
Richard saw it.
Jonathan saw it.
Marcus saw it from the doorway.
Victoria whispered, "I don't know."
Richard did not believe her.
"Leave."
She stared at him for several seconds.
Then her expression changed.
The softness vanished.
Sarah had seen this face before.
Richard had not.
Until now.
"You think Sarah is innocent?"
Richard said nothing.
Victoria laughed quietly.
"She wants this family."
"Leave."
"She wants your house."
"Leave."
"She wants your son."
Richard stepped closer.
"Do not say another word about her."
Victoria smiled bitterly.
"There he is."
Richard's eyes narrowed.
"The man beneath all that civilized restraint."
Jonathan stood.
"Victoria."
She ignored him.
"You think you're protecting everyone because you own the walls around them."
Richard said, "Marcus."
Marcus entered.
Victoria lifted one hand.
"I'll go."
She walked toward the door.
Then stopped.
"What happens when you discover Sarah lied too?"
Richard did not answer.
Victoria looked back.
"Everyone lies, Richard."
Then she left.
The mansion remained quiet for the rest of the night.
At 12:40 a.m., Richard received a message from Sarah.
Ethan was asleep.
At 1:05, Rebecca called.
Someone had driven slowly past her property three times.
Marcus sent two guards immediately.
At 1:32, the vehicle was located abandoned six miles away.
Inside, police found a camera.
Photographs of Rebecca's house.
Photographs of Sarah.
Photographs of Ethan.
And a printed copy of Richard's estate plan.
Richard no longer cared about preserving the investigation.
He called the police.
But Victoria was already gone from her hotel.
Adrian was gone from his apartment.
For five days, neither could be located.
Then Victoria returned.
Not secretly.
Not apologetically.
She arrived at Richard's corporate headquarters wearing a cream suit and carrying a lawyer's letter.
She claimed Richard had defamed her.
She claimed Sarah had manipulated the security evidence.
She claimed Claire's confession had been coerced.
And she claimed that Richard's grief had made him mentally unstable.
The letter demanded ten million dollars in exchange for silence.
Richard read it twice.
Then handed it to Jonathan.
"She came back for money."
Jonathan looked at the final page.
"No."
Richard frowned.
Jonathan pointed to one paragraph.
Victoria was also requesting immediate access to personal property she claimed remained inside the mansion.
Specifically, a burgundy jewelry case stored in her dressing room.
Marcus searched the room.
There was no burgundy case.
But inside the drawer where the stolen recorder had been found, he discovered scratches beneath the velvet lining.
A hidden compartment.
Empty.
Sarah looked at the photographs Marcus sent.
"What was inside?"
No one knew.
Then Richard remembered something.
The night of the engagement, Victoria had asked Jonathan about Ethan's trust.
Two hours later, she had met Adrian in the marble hallway.
And during the damaged section of that recording, seventeen seconds were missing.
Marcus returned to the corrupted file.
This time he enhanced the audio.
A sentence emerged beneath the static.
Adrian's voice.
"If the medical file works, the court will never leave the kid with Rebecca."
Richard stared at the speaker.
"What medical file?"
May you like
Jonathan looked at him.
And for the first time, the attorney looked frightened.
