Chapter 6 - VICTORIA’S VERSION
Nobody believed Victoria immediately.
Not Ethan.
Not Maya.
Not the investigators.
Victoria stood beneath the chandeliers without her sapphire ring.
For the first time, she looked less like a matriarch and more like an aging woman surrounded by consequences.
“I was working for Conrad Vaughn,” she said.
Vance’s expression hardened.
“Doing what?”
“Legal acquisitions.”
“You were not an attorney.”
“I carried documents.”
“Money.”
“Messages.”
“And sometimes things that were not supposed to exist.”
Maya looked at her.
“Children?”
Victoria flinched.
“No.”
“Only you.”
The room became still.
Victoria explained that Conrad Vaughn had discovered General Cross planned to expose a defense procurement scheme.
Vaughn and several executives were selling restricted technology through overseas shell companies.
Dr. Evelyn Cross found the financial records.
She intended to testify.
On the night of the attack, Vaughn ordered the convoy rerouted.
Victoria was sent to retrieve a file Evelyn carried.
“What happened to my mother?” Maya asked.
Victoria lowered her eyes.
“I do not know.”
“You were there.”
“I arrived after the vehicle crashed.”
“Your mother was injured.”
“Your grandfather was gone.”
“You were crying in the back seat.”
Vance stepped closer.
“Why did you not call for help?”
“Because Vaughn’s men were already coming.”
Victoria’s voice broke slightly.
“I took Maya.”
“I drove north.”
“I intended to reach a police station.”
“But Conrad called me.”
“He said Ethan would die if I went to the authorities.”
Ethan stared at her.
“I was four years old.”
“Yes.”
“He had men outside our home.”
Victoria looked at Maya.
“So I left you near the highway.”
“With the medal.”
“I hoped someone would connect it to General Cross.”
“But no one did.”
Vance’s anger sharpened.
“You could have contacted me.”
“I believed you were involved.”
“You believed what protected you.”
Victoria did not deny it.
Maya’s eyes filled with tears.
“You watched me grow up.”
“Yes.”
“You knew I lived in group homes.”
“Yes.”
“You knew I had no family.”
“Yes.”
“And when your son married me, you called me trash.”
Victoria looked away.
“I was afraid Conrad would realize you were the child.”
“He already knew.”
The photographs inside the briefcase proved it.
Victoria’s cruelty had protected nothing.
It had only made Maya suffer twice.
Ethan stepped beside his wife.
“Maya.”
She did not look at him.
Victoria whispered.
“I am sorry.”
Maya’s face became calm.
“You are sorry because the room is locked.”
Before Victoria could answer, Agent Brooks received a call.
Senator Vaughn’s abandoned car had been found near the river.
There was blood inside.
And in the trunk, investigators found the body of a man who had been missing for twenty-four years.
May you like
Colonel Vance recognized him immediately.
General Alexander Cross.
