Chapter 10 - Victoria's Bargain

Nathan let Victoria through the gate but not into the main house.

They met in the glass pool house with two armed guards outside and Maya recording everything.

Grace refused to leave.

Victoria noticed the bandage on her shoulder.

For one second, shame flickered across her face.

Then it vanished.

"Don't expect an apology."

Grace folded her arms. "I expected less."

Nathan pointed at the metal box. "Open it."

Victoria set it on the table. Inside were bank statements, Ethan's courthouse marriage certificate, and several photographs of Richard meeting Caleb Voss.

But no ledger.

"Where's the second ledger?" Nathan asked.

"I don't know."

"Then why steal this?"

"Because it proves my father used my name on shell companies when I was twenty-two. If the fraud comes out, I go down with him."

Grace stared at her. "So you threatened me and my child to protect yourself."

"At first, yes."

"At first?"

Victoria looked toward the dark lawn. "Then I found out Richard had Ethan killed."

Nathan's hands curled into fists.

"Voss says you knew."

"I knew my father wanted Ethan stopped. I thought Voss was supposed to scare him, maybe steal the documents. I didn't know he would cut the brakes."

"You gave Voss money."

Victoria looked at Margaret, who had joined them silently.

"Your mother told you that?"

Margaret did not answer.

Victoria smiled bitterly. "Of course she did. She left out the part where the envelope came from her husband."

Nathan turned to Margaret.

"Mom?"

Margaret's face drained of color.

Victoria pushed a photograph across the table.

Nathan's father, Charles Cole, stood beside Voss in the estate garage on the morning Ethan died.

A timestamp was printed in the corner.

6:42 a.m.

Nathan whispered, "Dad was supposed to be in Boston."

Victoria nodded.

"He wasn't."

Nathan looked at his mother.

Margaret finally spoke.

"Your father didn't order Ethan's death."

"How do you know?"

She closed her eyes.

"Because he ordered Voss to follow Ethan and bring him home alive."

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Victoria leaned forward.

"And somebody changed the order."