Chapter 7 - Victoria'S Secret
Charles crossed the room and yanked the door open.
Victoria stood there alone.
Her coat was buttoned wrong.
No makeup.
Her right cheek was red as if someone had grabbed her.
Charles’s anger vanished.
“What happened?”
“Lock the door.”
He did.
Victoria looked at the security camera in the ceiling corner.
“Is that recording?”
“Yes,” I said.
“Good.”
She dragged a chair beside my bed and sat.
For once, she didn’t look like the woman who had ruled every room for thirty years.
She looked like someone who had run here without knowing if she would make it.
Charles held up my phone.
“You posted about Rebecca.”
Victoria closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
The answer was so quiet I almost missed it.
“Why?”
“Because I knew she didn’t steal that money.”
Charles gripped the window ledge.
“You told me she did.”
“I lied.”
He turned.
“You let me believe—”
“I was trying to keep Nathan from destroying all of us.”
I laughed once.
“By helping him destroy me?”
Victoria looked at my burned hand.
Her eyes dropped.
“I am not asking you to forgive me.”
“Good.”
She flinched.
I leaned forward.
“What happened to Rebecca?”
Victoria took a breath that shook.
“She called me from the lake house.”
“When?”
“Six years ago. Two nights before Nathan told everyone she had run away.”
Charles sat down hard.
“What did she say?”
“That she couldn’t stand up.”
My fingers curled into the blanket.
“She said Nathan gave her something. She said he had her phone. She used the house line.”
Charles’s face emptied.
“And you went there?”
“Yes.”
“What did you find?”
“Rebecca on the bathroom floor.”
I stopped breathing for a beat.
“Was she alive?”
“Yes.”
Victoria’s voice cracked.
“Barely.”
Charles stood again.
“You never told me.”
“I called an ambulance from another town. I helped her leave before Nathan came back.”
“Why hide it?”
Victoria looked at him.
“Because Nathan showed me files from Hale Industries.”
Charles went still.
“What files?”
“Payments I approved. Vendor accounts I moved money through. Things I did when the company was close to failing years ago.”
Charles whispered, “You stole from the company?”
“I moved money illegally to cover losses. I put it back.”
“That’s still a crime.”
“I know.”
Her hands tightened together.
“Nathan found out. He told me if I exposed him, he would send everything to federal investigators and make sure you lost the company.”
Charles stared at her.
I saw decades of marriage collapse without anyone raising their voice.
Then I asked the only question that mattered.
“If you knew what he was capable of, why did you help him do this to me?”
Victoria looked at my stomach.
I felt the baby shift beneath my palm.
Her mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
I pushed harder.
“You picked up my prescriptions.”
She nodded once.
“You watched me take those vitamins.”
Another nod.
“You helped him build medical records saying I was confused.”
“I helped with some of it.”
My throat burned.
“Why?”
She pressed her fingers to her lips.
“Because I thought if I didn’t help him scare you…”
She stopped.
“Finish it.”
Her eyes lifted.
“He was going to kill the baby.”
The monitor beside me beeped faster.
Charles moved toward her.
“What?”
Victoria held up both hands.
“He said you had changed the trust. He found out before Thanksgiving.”
Charles’s face hardened.
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
“He threatened the baby?” I asked.
“He said if you left him before he controlled your assets, the pregnancy would become a complication.”
My skin went numb.
Victoria began crying silently.
“I thought if I kept you compliant, if I helped make you look unstable, he would use the legal route.”
“You thought framing me as mentally ill was protecting me?”
“I thought it would keep you alive.”
I turned my face away.
The door shook under a sudden knock.
Everyone jumped.
Hospital security.
“Mrs. Hale? Police are here.”
Victoria stood.
“No.”
Charles blocked her.
“You’re going to talk to them.”
“I will. But first you need the key.”
She reached beneath her blouse and pulled out a thin chain.
A small brass key hung from it.
I had seen that necklace at every family holiday.
“What does it open?”
Victoria pressed it into my palm.
“The cabinet at the lake house.”
“What’s inside?”
“Rebecca left proof.”
Charles’s phone rang.
Nathan.
He answered on speaker.
“Where are you?” Charles demanded.
Nathan laughed softly.
“Mom finally told you, didn’t she?”
Victoria’s face drained.
Nathan continued.
“Ask her what else she left at the lake house.”
May you like
The call ended.
Victoria whispered, “We have to go now.”
