Chapter 11
The black car belonged to no Carter man.
That mattered.
My guards recognized every vehicle regularly admitted through the rear estate gate.
This one had entered under a catering authorization Victoria arranged for a charity breakfast.
Clever.
Ordinary.
Forgettable.
I did not care about the driver.
I cared about who Victoria believed would benefit after my death.
“Who is he?”
She smiled.
“Wouldn’t you like to know.”
I stepped closer.
“No.”
That surprised her.
“I want to know why you think his identity still gives you power.”
Her smile faded slightly.
I continued.
“You’re not leaving this house with the secret.”
Caleb looked at her.
“Tell him.”
She turned.
“You don’t give orders.”
“No.”
He laughed bitterly.
“But I can stop protecting you.”
That landed.
Victoria looked at him with disgust.
“You were never strong enough for this.”
Caleb flinched.
Then something changed.
He looked at me.
“The funeral.”
“What about it?”
“There was another name.”
Grace brought the list.
Caleb pointed near the bottom.
Nathan Vale.
I knew the name.
Not well.
An old Carter affiliate who left after my father died.
Too ambitious.
Too smooth.
My mother hated him.
“What did Nathan have to do with the funeral?”
Caleb looked at Victoria.
“He was supposed to stand with the family.”
I almost laughed.
“He isn’t family.”
Victoria finally spoke.
“He would have been.”
Silence.
I stared.
Then understood.
Not marriage to me.
Marriage after me.
Victoria had been planning the next alliance before ending the current one.
Caleb went pale.
Even he had not known.
I looked at her engagement ring.
“You were going to bury me wearing that.”
She said nothing.
“Then marry Vale.”
Her face hardened.
“It wasn’t like that.”
I almost smiled.
“Then explain the version that sounds better.”
No answer.
Grace whispered:
“Your mother knew.”
I looked at her.
“She once told me Victoria wasn’t trying to enter the Carter family.”
Grace’s eyes filled.
“She was trying to survive long enough to inherit it.”
May you like
My mother had seen the whole thing.
And I had called her suspicious.
