Chapter 15 - The Wrong Man at the Airport
Pike had planted his phone on a passenger heading to London.
By the time airport police identified the decoy, Pike had vanished again.
Victoria was brought to the hotel under police escort just after midnight.
Her black dress was torn at one shoulder. Her perfect hair had fallen loose. Without the armor of her posture and money, she looked smaller.
Nathan moved toward her.
She held up a hand.
“Not yet.”
Then she looked at Elena.
The room waited.
“I owe you an apology,” Victoria said.
Elena almost smiled.
“An apology?”
Victoria flinched.
“For the ballroom. For the contract. For everything.”
“That is a very efficient summary of several felonies.”
Walter coughed to hide a laugh.
Victoria’s eyes hardened for one second, then softened again.
“You have every right to hate me.”
“I don’t have enough energy to hate you.”
Nathan said, “Did you arrange for us to meet?”
Victoria closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
Elena felt the answer like a slap.
Nathan stepped back.
“Why?”
“Because her father’s settlement file was still a liability. I wanted to know what Elena knew.”
“So you used me.”
“At first.”
Nathan laughed bitterly. “At first?”
Victoria looked at Elena. “Then you two became real. I tried to separate you. When that failed, I tried to control the risk.”
“By stealing my company.”
“Yes.”
The honesty was almost worse than another lie.
Claire crossed her arms. “And my father?”
Victoria’s face changed.
“I helped him hide the transfers. Then he tried to expose me. I threatened him. I did not kill him.”
Claire’s jaw clenched.
“No one said you did.”
Victoria looked toward the door.
That reaction was enough.
Claire stepped forward. “Who killed him?”
Victoria whispered, “I don’t know.”
A phone rang.
Not Elena’s.
Not Nathan’s.
Victoria looked down at a tiny prepaid phone hidden inside the lining of her purse.
Everyone stared.
She pulled it out with shaking hands.
The screen showed one incoming call.
Daniel Pike.
Alvarez signaled for silence.
Victoria answered.
May you like
Pike spoke first.
“Tell Claire her father wasn’t the one who died by accident.”
