Chapter 9 - the confession hidden in yellow diamonds
The memory card contained forty-three audio files.
Each was labeled with a date.
The earliest recording had been made eight months before the gala.
In it, Beatrice met with Mr. Ashcroft inside a restaurant.
“The company owes six hundred and twelve million dollars,” Beatrice said.
Mr. Ashcroft’s voice sounded exhausted.
“The assets can cover half.”
“Selling them would reveal the debt.”
“What do you want?”
“Victoria will marry Alexander.”
“He has no interest in her.”
“Interest is temporary. Contracts survive it.”
“He will refuse.”
“Then the board will create circumstances in which refusal becomes expensive.”
The next recording revealed payments from a secret Vale account to Ashcroft International.
Another captured Leonard Price promising to approve Victoria as Alexander’s proxy.
The final recording had been made on the afternoon of the gala.
Beatrice spoke first.
“Seraphina Hale has entered the manor.”
Mr. Ashcroft answered.
“Then remove her.”
“I intend to.”
“She cannot reach the founder’s room.”
“I know.”
“If Lucien discovers she has the key, he will come back.”
“You told me he was already coming.”
“He is.”
“For Alexander?”
“For what Alexander carries.”
The recording ended.
Alexander replayed the final sentence.
“For what I carry?”
Seraphina watched him.
“Beatrice called you a decoy.”
“Whoever sent the letter said I do not know what I am.”
Daniel searched the remaining files.
“There is no explanation.”
Victoria had hidden the card inside her bracelet.
Seraphina remembered Beatrice’s words in the ballroom.
You foolish girl.
Perhaps Victoria had not been foolish at all.
Perhaps she had begun recording the people controlling her.
They found her in the private interview room with two officers and an attorney.
When Alexander placed the memory card on the table, Victoria closed her eyes.
“You found it.”
“Why did you record them?” Seraphina asked.
“Because my father stopped telling me the truth.”
“How long have you known about Wren?”
“I heard the name eight months ago. I thought it was an investment fund.”
“You knew Beatrice intended to suspend Alexander.”
“Yes.”
“You agreed to become his proxy.”
Victoria met Alexander’s eyes.
“I believed you would eventually accept the arrangement.”
“I was married.”
“I didn’t know.”
“You still planned to take control of my authority.”
“I thought I was saving my family.”
Seraphina sat across from her.
“You keep using other people’s decisions as explanations for your own.”
Victoria’s face tightened.
“What do you want from me?”
“The truth.”
“I gave you the recordings.”
“After attacking me.”
“I know.”
“Why was the memory card hidden in your bracelet?”
“My father searched everything else.”
“Did he know you recorded him?”
“He suspected.”
“Where did he go?”
“I don’t know.”
Alexander pushed the beneficiary register toward her.
“Your father recognized this.”
Victoria looked at the names.
“He told me seven families once controlled Vale Holdings.”
“That is not what the recording says.”
“He said the official history was false. Lucien wanted to return money that had been taken generations earlier.”
“Why did your father oppose him?” Seraphina asked.
“Because Ashcroft International was built with part of that money.”
The room went quiet.
Victoria’s family was not merely in debt.
If the Wren Trust revealed the stolen inheritances, Ashcroft assets might be returned to their rightful owners.
“Your father needed Alexander suspended before the founder’s room opened,” Seraphina said.
“Yes.”
“And Beatrice needed me gone.”
“Yes.”
“Why did you strike me?”
Victoria stared at the table.
“Because I was angry.”
“At me?”
“At everyone.”
“That does not answer the question.”
Victoria’s voice lowered.
“You were wearing a maid’s uniform, but you looked at me as if I were the one without power.”
Seraphina did not interrupt.
“I had spent my entire life learning that power meant never allowing someone to embarrass you. Beatrice told me you had mocked me. She told me the guests would respect me if I put you in your place.”
“And did they?”
Victoria looked toward the observation window.
“No.”
“Do you regret it because it was wrong or because Alexander revealed who I was?”
Victoria’s answer took a long time.
“At first, because of who you were.”
Seraphina appreciated the honesty, even when it was ugly.
“And now?”
“Now I understand that I believed you had no one to protect you, and I used that belief as permission.”
Victoria’s eyes filled, but Seraphina offered no comfort.
“I am sorry,” Victoria said.
“An apology does not erase what happened.”
“I know.”
“It may matter later. It does not decide what happens next.”
Victoria nodded.
Alexander leaned forward.
“You will provide these recordings to the investigators and testify against Beatrice, Leonard, and your father.”
“My father will destroy me.”
“Your father already tried.”
Victoria looked at the yellow dress she had once chosen for an engagement announcement.
“If I help you, will my family company survive?”
Seraphina answered before Alexander.
“Not if it survives by keeping stolen money.”
Victoria gave a small, broken laugh.
“Then I suppose this is the first honest choice I have ever made.”
She signed the cooperation agreement.
As the attorney gathered the documents, Victoria remembered something.
“Beatrice gave me another instruction before the gala.”
“What instruction?” Alexander asked.
“She said if Seraphina reached the west wing, I should ring the bell in the upper hall.”
“What bell?”
“The old servant bell beside the portrait of your grandfather.”
Alexander and Seraphina exchanged a glance.
No such bell appeared on the estate plans.
They went upstairs.
Behind the portrait, they found a brass handle.
Seraphina pulled it.
A deep tone sounded beneath the floor.
Far inside the west wing, ancient gears began moving.
The wall of the founder’s room opened.
Behind it stood a steel door with two locks.
One matched Seraphina’s brass key.
The other required a handprint.
Alexander placed his palm against the glass.
The lock turned green.
May you like
A message appeared.
WELCOME, LUCIEN VALE.
