Chapter 5 - Step Away From My Wife
Victoria’s first reaction was not guilt.
It was calculation.
Arthur saw it happen in her eyes.
Shock became fear.
Fear became an attempt to regain control.
“You were not supposed to be home,” she said.
Arthur crossed the kitchen slowly.
Clara looked up at him as though she feared he might disappear.
“Arthur?”
He wanted to run to her.
He wanted to hold her.
But Victoria still had the iron, and the electrical cord stretched across the floor near Clara’s knees.
Arthur set down his duffel bag.
“Put it on the counter, Mother.”
Victoria glanced at the iron as if she had forgotten she was holding it.
“This is not what it looks like.”
Clara gave a broken laugh through her tears.
Arthur kept his voice level.
“Put it down.”
“She became unstable after hearing about your death.”
“You told my wife I was dead.”
“It was necessary.”
“For what?”
“To protect this family.”
Arthur’s jaw tightened.
“From my unborn daughter?”
Victoria placed the iron on the counter but kept one hand near it.
Arthur stepped between her and Clara.
Only then did he kneel.
Clara touched his face.
Her fingers trembled against his cheek.
“You’re alive.”
“I’m alive.”
“She said you were dead.”
“I know.”
“I thought I lost you.”
Arthur wrapped his arms around her carefully.
“I’m here now.”
Clara began to sob against his chest.
He looked at the burned strands near the top of her hair. Beneath them, the skin appeared red but not badly damaged.
His eyes closed for one second.
When they opened, the coldness had returned.
Victoria moved toward the doorway.
Arthur stood immediately.
“Do not leave.”
“You have no authority to detain me in my own home.”
“The police do.”
Victoria stopped.
Arthur lifted his phone.
The call had been connected since he entered the kitchen.
Major Bennett’s voice came through the speaker.
“Local officers are two minutes away, Captain.”
Victoria’s face drained of color.
“You recorded this?”
“Everything since I opened the door.”
“You would destroy your own mother?”
Arthur looked at Clara kneeling among the custody papers.
“You made your choice when you touched my wife.”
Victoria’s expression twisted.
“You know nothing about what I sacrificed for you. After your father died, I held this family together. I built the company. I protected your inheritance.”
“You stole from the company.”
Her eyes widened.
Arthur understood from that reaction that the investigators’ suspicions were correct.
“You had no right to examine those records,” she said.
“I had every right. They carried my name.”
Sirens sounded beyond the mansion gates.
Victoria’s composure cracked.
She lunged for the custody documents.
Clara moved first.
She placed her hand over the papers and pulled them toward herself.
Victoria seized Clara’s wrist.
Arthur caught his mother’s arm before she could drag Clara forward.
He did not strike her.
He did not raise his voice.
He simply removed her hand and stepped between them again.
“Never touch her.”
The kitchen doors opened.
Two police officers entered with Major Bennett behind them.
Victoria straightened her dress.
“This is a private family misunderstanding.”
The senior officer looked at the iron, the smoke, Clara’s hair, and the scattered legal documents.
“No, ma’am,” he said. “It isn’t.”
Paramedics arrived moments later.
As they helped Clara onto a stretcher, she reached for Arthur.
He stayed beside her.
Victoria stood near the marble island while an officer read her rights.
For the first time in her life, no one obeyed her commands.
When the officers escorted her through the mansion, she turned toward Arthur.
“You will regret humiliating me.”
Arthur picked up the false death notice from the floor.
He held it where she could see it.
May you like
“You wrote the obituary for our relationship.”
Then he tore it in half.
