Chapter 18 - Victoria’s Final Secret
Nathan met Victoria inside a federal detention facility.
No designer clothes.
No jewelry.
No perfectly arranged hair.
For the first time, she looked ordinary.
Nathan sat across from her.
“You have ten minutes.”
Victoria smiled weakly.
“You always did hate wasting time.”
“What do you want?”
“To stay alive.”
Nathan’s expression did not change.
Victoria leaned forward.
“My father will sacrifice me.”
“He already has.”
Nathan watched her.
“You participated in everything.”
“I participated in Grace’s removal.”
Victoria swallowed.
“I authorized the psychiatric report.”
“I helped create the fake letter.”
“I knew about the financial agreement.”
Nathan’s eyes hardened.
“And the attack?”
Victoria looked away.
“I panicked.”
“You raised a hockey stick over a four-year-old.”
Victoria’s voice broke.
“I know.”
Nathan felt no sympathy.
“Then why am I here?”
Victoria looked directly at him.
“Because Daniel was not working alone.”
Nathan waited.
“There is another account.”
“What account?”
“The Meridian account.”
Victoria explained that Daniel had used a private offshore network to distribute payments.
One recipient appeared only as C-17.
Richard believed C-17 was an investigator.
Victoria had learned otherwise.
“C-17 had access to your father’s medical records before Daniel did.”
Nathan frowned.
“Who?”
Victoria’s hands shook.
“Someone in your family.”
Nathan felt cold.
“William?”
Victoria shook her head.
“Your mother.”
Nathan froze.
Victoria continued quickly.
“I’m not saying Eleanor killed Thomas.”
“But she knew Thomas’s medication had been altered.”
“And she said nothing.”
Nathan stood.
Victoria grabbed the table edge.
“There’s more.”
He stopped.
“Your father planned to give Grace evidence personally.”
“The night he died, he was driving to meet her.”
Grace had never mentioned it.
Nathan slowly sat again.
“He knew where she was?”
“Yes.”
Victoria looked ashamed.
“He always knew.”
Nathan felt betrayal cut deeper than before.
His father had watched Grace hide for years.
“He told himself distance kept her safe.”
Victoria continued.
“But Eleanor discovered the meeting.”
“She called Daniel.”
Nathan’s voice dropped.
“And Thomas died that night.”
Victoria nodded.
Nathan returned home shaken.
Grace immediately knew something had changed.
He told her everything.
She became pale.
“Your father contacted me.”
Nathan stared.
“When?”
“The week before he died.”
Grace pulled out an old phone.
“I thought it was another trap.”
She opened an archived voicemail.
Thomas’s voice filled the room.
Grace, I have no right to ask you for anything.
But I need to see you.
Nathan deserves the truth.
Lily deserves her father.
Grace stopped the recording.
Nathan looked shattered.
“I never went.”
“You were protecting Lily.”
Grace nodded.
“The next day, I heard he died.”
Nathan’s phone buzzed.
A security alert appeared.
Someone had entered his Palm Beach property.
Eleanor’s house.
Nathan called his mother.
No answer.
He opened the live camera feed.
The front door stood open.
A chair was overturned.
Then the camera rotated.
A figure stepped into view.
William Cole.
May you like
Nathan stared.
His uncle was supposed to be in protective custody.
