Chapter 10 - VICTORIA
The woman raised one hand.
Two security guards emerged from the adjoining room.
Leah stepped in front of Robert.
“Victoria.”
The woman smiled.
“It has been a long time.”
“You were supposed to be dead.”
“That story was useful.”
Robert looked between them.
“Who are you?”
Victoria studied him.
“You have Samuel’s eyes.”
Robert’s body tensed.
“Did you know my brother?”
“He tried to rescue me.”
“From this house?”
“From Dr. Cross.”
Leah’s voice shook.
“You were the child in the basement.”
“One of them.”
“You told Margaret there was only one.”
Victoria’s smile faded.
“Margaret heard what she needed to hear.”
Robert stepped forward.
“Did you poison Ellen?”
“No.”
“Did you enter her hospital room?”
“No.”
“Someone wearing your symbol did.”
Victoria touched the crescent at her throat.
“This symbol belonged to St. Matthew’s long before Margaret adopted it. Every child kept outside the official records received one.”
“How many children?”
“More than the ledger shows.”
Robert glanced toward the guards.
“Where is Cassandra?”
Victoria looked amused.
“Safe.”
“Is she locked in a room?”
“She locked herself in.”
“Why?”
“Because she finally learned who her mother was.”
“Margaret.”
Victoria laughed softly.
“Margaret raised Cassandra. That does not mean she gave birth to her.”
Robert absorbed the implication.
“Was Cassandra born at St. Matthew’s?”
“Yes.”
“Was she Rose?”
Victoria walked closer.
“That is the question Ellen tried to answer at the wedding.”
Leah moved beside Robert.
“We came for the ledger.”
“I know.”
“Where is it?”
Victoria looked toward the ceiling.
“Behind the wall where Margaret hid it.”
“Then let us take it.”
“I cannot.”
“Why not?”
“Because Jonathan removed it this afternoon.”
Robert’s jaw tightened.
“Where is he?”
“At dinner with six men whose families purchased children from St. Matthew’s.”
“Why are you telling us this?”
“Because I want the same thing you do.”
“The truth?”
“Not exactly.”
Victoria’s eyes hardened.
“I want every family named in that ledger destroyed.”
Robert thought of Ellen.
“Did you leave the warning at the hospital?”
“No.”
“Did you send the nurse?”
“I sent someone to protect Ellen.”
“The woman touched her IV.”
“She removed a contaminated line.”
Robert stared.
“The doctors said—”
“The doctors saw what someone wanted them to see.”
Leah shook her head.
“Do not believe her.”
Victoria looked at Leah with disappointment.
“You spent years searching for the wrong enemy.”
“My mother vanished because of this family.”
“Your mother vanished because she chose money over the children she helped steal.”
Leah lunged forward, but the guards restrained her.
“That is a lie!”
Victoria remained calm.
“Grace Miller did not become a whistleblower until Dr. Cross stopped paying her.”
Leah struggled against the guards.
Robert stepped between them.
“Enough.”
Everyone paused.
Robert looked at Victoria.
“What happened to Samuel?”
Victoria’s expression shifted.
“He discovered the basement.”
“I know.”
“He tried to take me out.”
“Why you?”
“Because I told him I was his daughter.”
Robert froze.
Leah stopped struggling.
Victoria continued.
“I was eleven. Dr. Cross had told me Samuel was my father.”
“Was he?”
“No.”
Robert felt both relief and confusion.
“Why would Cross tell you that?”
“To make Samuel trust me.”
“Did Samuel know it was a lie?”
“Not until later.”
“What did you do?”
“I led him to the nursery. He found four infants and copied part of the ledger.”
“The copy Ruth mentioned.”
“Yes.”
“Did Cross kill him?”
Victoria looked away.
“Jonathan ordered the car accident.”
Leah went pale.
“Jonathan was only in his twenties.”
“He was already protecting the family.”
Robert fought the urge to confront Jonathan immediately.
“Where is the original ledger now?”
“Jonathan plans to burn it before midnight.”
Leah checked the time.
Eleven thirty-seven.
“Where?”
Victoria nodded toward the ballroom wing.
“In the old chapel beneath the house.”
“Take us there.”
The guards released Leah.
Victoria led them through a hidden door behind a tapestry.
A narrow staircase descended beneath the mansion.
As they moved lower, music from the dinner faded.
The air smelled of damp stone and smoke.
Robert heard voices ahead.
Jonathan Cross stood inside a candlelit chapel with six elderly men. A metal container burned near the altar.
In Jonathan’s hands was a leather ledger.
Robert moved forward.
Jonathan looked up.
For one instant, shock crossed his face.
Then he smiled.
“Robert Whitaker.”
“You know who I am.”
“I attended your son’s wedding.”
“You tried to destroy evidence of an assault.”
Jonathan glanced at the burning container.
“Families often misunderstand what evidence means.”
Robert pointed to the ledger.
“Put it down.”
The six men shifted uneasily.
Jonathan’s smile remained.
“You believe this book will tell you whether Michael married his sister.”
Leah stepped from the shadows.
“It will tell us more than that.”
Jonathan saw her and sighed.
“Samuel’s little mistake.”
Leah’s face twisted with rage.
Robert held her back.
“Give me the ledger.”
Jonathan opened it.
“You want the truth about Michael?”
“Yes.”
“You will regret it.”
“That is my decision.”
Jonathan tore out a page and held it over the flame.
Robert rushed forward.
Victoria shouted.
One of the elderly men grabbed Robert’s arm, but Leah struck him with a wooden chair.
The chapel erupted into chaos.
Jonathan dropped the ledger.
Victoria seized it.
A guard entered through the side door and drew a weapon.
“Put it down!”
Everyone froze.
The guard aimed at Victoria.
Jonathan extended his hand.
“Give me the book.”
Victoria backed toward Robert.
“Do not trust him.”
Robert heard another sound behind the wall.
A woman was crying.
He moved toward it.
Jonathan’s composure broke.
“Stay away from that door.”
Robert stared at him.
“Who is inside?”
No answer.
Robert pushed against the wooden panel.
It opened into a narrow room.
Cassandra sat on the floor with her wrists tied.
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Beside her was Ellen’s missing blue gift box.
And inside the box, wrapped in an old hospital blanket, lay a bloodstained identification band bearing the name Ellen Whitaker.
