Chapter 17 - Victoria's Last Move

Victoria did not go far.

Elias found her rental car on a traffic camera forty miles from the Cole lake house.

Nathan knew immediately.

"That's where Grace and I met."

Grace's face tightened.

"She knows that?"

"She knows everything."

Ruiz wanted Grace and Lily moved again.

Grace refused.

"I'm done letting fear choose the address."

Then Lily's school tablet chimed with a video call.

Unknown account.

Nathan answered.

Victoria appeared on the old dock.

Wind moved her hair.

Behind her, the lake house stood dark.

"Nathan."

"Turn yourself in."

"I tried to love you."

"You drugged me."

"You were never going to choose me once she came back."

"This started before Grace came back."

Victoria looked toward the water.

"My father told me when I was sixteen that I would marry you. Your father told me the same thing at nineteen. Every school, internship, charity board--they built me for your life."

"No one gets promised another person," Nathan said.

"They promised me."

There it was.

The same poison Edward had lived by.

People as assets.

Children as strategy.

Victoria saw Grace beside him.

"There she is."

Grace's voice stayed calm. "You hit me in front of my daughter."

"You took the life I was promised."

"No," Nathan said. "Our parents tried to turn all of us into contracts."

Orange light flickered behind Victoria.

Grace saw it first.

"Fire."

The lake house was burning.

Victoria held up a metal case.

"Edward kept copies."

"Of what?"

"Everything."

Sirens sounded in the distance.

"This could put my father away for life," Victoria said.

"He kidnapped my mother."

"He's still my father."

Nathan softened his voice.

"Then don't become him."

Victoria's expression cracked.

"For one summer, you loved Grace more freely than anyone ever loved me."

"That wasn't Grace's crime."

Victoria began to cry.

Then she stepped backward toward the burning house.

"Victoria, stop."

Police rushed onto the property.

A figure tackled her before she reached the flames.

The phone hit the dock.

The call ended.

Ten minutes later Ruiz called.

"Victoria is alive. In custody."

Nathan exhaled.

"The metal case?"

"Recovered."

Then Ruiz paused.

"There's a recording inside with your name on it."

Nathan went still.

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"What recording?"

"Your father's final message."