Chapter 4 - The Photograph Victoria Tried to Destroy)
The detectives separated everyone.
Guests were released after names and contact information were collected.
The wedding became chaos.
Luxury cars lined the driveway.
Reporters gathered outside the gates within thirty minutes.
Videos of Victoria shouting at Emily were already appearing online.
Damian did not care.
He sat in a private lounge with Emily and Sophie.
Someone had found children's clothes from a nearby shop.
Someone else brought soup.
Sophie had finally stopped crying and fallen asleep on a sofa.
Emily remained awake.
She refused to let the backpack out of her sight.
Detective Elena Brooks sat across from her.
"You did very well."
Emily looked at Damian.
"Is he staying?"
Brooks glanced at him.
"If you're comfortable with that."
Emily nodded.
Damian stayed.
Brooks asked gentle questions.
Where had Emily last seen Claire?
At their apartment.
What time?
Around nine at night.
Who had been there?
Emily didn't know.
She had been putting Sophie to bed.
She heard Claire arguing with a man.
"What did he sound like?"
"Normal."
"Young? Old?"
"Like him."
Emily pointed toward the hallway.
Marcus was speaking to another detective outside.
Damian looked at her.
"Marcus?"
Emily shook her head.
"I don't know. I didn't see his face."
"Then why point at him?"
"The watch."
Damian became still.
"What watch?"
"It was silver."
Brooks leaned forward.
"Can you describe it?"
Emily thought.
"It had a blue circle."
Damian knew exactly what she meant.
Vance International had commissioned fifty anniversary watches five years earlier for senior executives and security personnel.
Silver casing.
Blue enamel face.
Marcus owned one.
So did forty nine others.
It proved nothing.
But Damian remembered Marcus taking something off his wrist after police arrived.
Brooks noticed his expression.
"You recognize it?"
"Possibly."
Damian explained.
She wrote it down.
Emily continued.
She had heard Claire say, "You already took eight years from us."
Then something broke.
Claire told Emily to lock Sophie's bedroom door.
Ten minutes later everything became quiet.
Emily waited.
When she came out, Claire was gone.
There was blood near the kitchen counter.
The apartment door was open.
Emily called Claire's phone.
A man answered.
"He didn't say anything."
"What happened?"
"He breathed."
Brooks stopped writing.
"Then?"
"He hung up."
"Do you remember the number?"
"It was Mom's number."
Damian looked at Brooks.
"Police didn't trace it?"
"They attempted to. Phone was switched off six minutes later."
Emily opened the backpack.
"Mom left this."
She removed an envelope.
Claire's handwriting covered the front.
For Emily. Open only if I don't come home.
Emily handed it to Brooks.
"I already opened it."
Inside was a single note.
Go to Damian Vance. Do not call anyone from Vance International first. Do not trust anyone who says Damian sent them unless Damian is standing beside them.
Damian read it twice.
The wording disturbed him.
Not do not trust Victoria.
Do not trust anyone from Vance International.
"Why would she write this?" Brooks asked.
Emily shrugged.
Damian didn't.
Claire had been afraid of someone inside his company.
A knock sounded.
Margaret entered.
She had changed out of her formal dress.
"How are the girls?"
"Sophie is asleep."
Margaret looked at Emily.
Her expression softened.
"You have your father's eyes."
The room went silent.
Damian looked at his mother.
"You believe her?"
Margaret hesitated.
"I believe something happened eight years ago that none of us understood."
"You knew Claire was pregnant?"
"No."
"Did Dad?"
Margaret looked away.
Damian stood.
"Mother."
"I don't know."
"That's not an answer."
"Your father handled your relationship with Claire badly."
"How badly?"
Margaret sat.
"He believed she would complicate your future."
"Meaning?"
"He thought you were too young."
"I was twenty four."
"He thought you were impulsive."
"So he interfered."
"He spoke to Claire."
Damian stared at her.
"When?"
"The week you went to London."
The same week as the photograph.
"What did he tell her?"
"I wasn't there."
"Did Victoria know?"
Margaret's silence answered.
Damian felt anger rise.
"How long?"
"Victoria's father was working with ours on the Halcyon acquisition. Their families were close."
"How long did Victoria know Claire?"
"At least several months."
Damian almost laughed.
Seven years of hearing Victoria say she had never met Claire.
Seven years built over that lie.
Detective Brooks looked at Margaret.
"Why would Victoria deny knowing her?"
Margaret shook her head.
"I don't know."
Damian did.
Because whatever happened next required him not to ask.
A second detective entered.
"Mr. Vance, we spoke with Ms. Victoria Hale."
Damian waited.
"She says the photograph is fake, Emily is part of an extortion attempt and Claire Bennett has been harassing her for several months."
Emily's head snapped up.
"That's not true."
Brooks raised a calming hand.
"What else?"
"Ms. Hale says she has messages proving it."
"Can we see them?"
"Her attorney is on the way."
Damian stared through the glass wall.
Victoria sat at the opposite end of the corridor.
Her wedding gown had been covered with a gray coat.
For the first time that day, she looked small.
Then Marcus approached her.
Only for a second.
He leaned down.
Said something.
Victoria looked directly toward Damian.
Marcus immediately walked away.
Damian stepped into the corridor.
"Marcus."
His security chief turned.
"Yes?"
"What did you say to her?"
"Asked whether she needed anything."
"She's under police questioning."
"I was being courteous."
Damian looked at his wrist.
No watch.
"Where's your Vance anniversary watch?"
Marcus glanced down.
"Left it upstairs."
"You were wearing it earlier."
"Was I?"
Damian held his gaze.
Marcus smiled faintly.
"It's been a long day."
Damian's phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
No one spoke.
"Hello?"
Silence.
Then a woman's breathing.
Damian's heart began pounding.
"Claire?"
The call disconnected.
He stared at the screen.
A text message appeared.
May you like
Storage unit 317.
Go before they do.
