Chapter 4 - VICTORIA’S FIRST MISTAKE
Victoria was escorted into the study ten minutes later.
Her face had lost all traces of elegance.
“What are you trying to do?”
Julian asked.
Victoria crossed her arms.
“I dropped an earring.”
“In Sarah’s locker?”
“I was looking everywhere.”
“With a lighter in your hand?”
Victoria rolled her eyes.
“I smoke occasionally.”
Sarah looked at her.
“You told the staff smoking inside this building was disgusting.”
Victoria’s eyes flashed.
“I was upset.”
Julian placed the old letter on the desk.
Victoria saw it.
For half a second, her expression cracked.
That half second was enough.
Julian noticed.
Sarah noticed.
Even Victoria realized she had reacted.
“What is that?”
Victoria asked.
Julian did not answer.
He slid the payment page toward her.
“Recognize the routing number?”
Victoria barely looked.
“No.”
“It belongs to Sterling Family Office.”
“That proves nothing.”
“It proves whoever prepared this payment had access to your family’s financial accounts.”
“My father employed hundreds of people.”
Julian leaned forward.
“And whoever wrote this forged my signature.”
Victoria looked toward Sarah.
“She probably made it herself.”
Sarah stepped toward her.
“I kept this because I wanted my son to know one day that I had never accepted money to walk away.”
Victoria laughed.
“Your son?”
“Please.”
Julian stood.
“Enough.”
Victoria turned toward him.
“You think that child is yours because he has your eyes?”
“You think a maid somehow fooled you into believing a bedtime story?”
Julian stared at her.
“I haven’t said Leo is mine.”
Victoria went silent.
Julian’s eyes narrowed.
“But you just did.”
Sarah felt a chill.
Victoria tried to recover.
“I meant hypothetically.”
“No.”
Julian walked around the desk.
“You knew what I was thinking.”
“You knew exactly why the necklace mattered.”
Victoria stepped backward.
“You are imagining things.”
“Then explain why you were destroying Sarah’s employment file.”
“I wasn’t.”
The study door opened.
An elderly woman entered.
Mrs. Alvarez had managed the Vance estate staff for twenty-seven years.
She carried a clear evidence bag.
Inside was a partially burned document.
“I found this inside the staff incinerator.”
Victoria’s face turned white.
Julian took the bag.
Only the top half of the paper remained.
It was Sarah’s employment application.
One line was highlighted in yellow.
Emergency Contact: Leo Morgan.
Relationship: Son.
Below it was Leo’s date of birth.
November 17.
Victoria looked toward the door.
Security was blocking it.
Julian spoke quietly.
“You knew about Leo before tonight.”
Victoria said nothing.
“You knew Sarah had a child.”
Silence.
“You knew his age.”
Still nothing.
Sarah suddenly remembered something.
Two weeks earlier, a woman had come to Leo’s preschool.
Expensive coat.
Dark glasses.
She had claimed she represented a scholarship foundation.
Leo’s teacher had mentioned it casually.
Sarah had forgotten all about it.
Until now.
She looked at Victoria.
“Were you at my son’s school?”
May you like
For the first time all evening, Victoria looked genuinely afraid.
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