Chapter 13
Victoria finally stopped pretending love had anything to do with it.
“You want honesty?”
I looked at her.
“For once.”
She laughed.
“I spent six years beside this family.”
“Four.”
“Six.”
I frowned.
She smiled.
“I knew your mother before you introduced us.”
That stopped me.
Grace looked shocked.
“What?”
Victoria leaned back.
“Evelyn came to one of my family’s charity dinners. She knew exactly who I was.”
I remembered my mother objecting quickly when I first mentioned Victoria.
Too quickly.
I assumed class prejudice.
Old distrust.
Maybe she had already recognized the Hales.
“What happened six years ago?”
Victoria looked at me.
“Your mother offered Frank money to keep me away from you.”
Caleb stared.
“My uncle never told me that.”
“Of course not.”
She continued.
“Evelyn said Carter men destroy women who confuse proximity with belonging.”
My chest tightened.
That sounded like my mother.
Cruel delivery.
Often accurate warning.
Victoria’s voice sharpened.
“She decided before meeting me that I was not good enough.”
“And you proved her wrong by trying to kill her?”
“I didn’t kill Evelyn.”
“Then what did you do?”
Silence.
There.
A boundary.
Specific.
I noticed.
“You didn’t kill her.”
“No.”
“But you made her sick.”
Victoria’s jaw tightened.
Nathan looked at her.
Caleb did too.
Neither knew.
I stepped closer.
“How long?”
She stared.
“Dominic—”
“How long?”
Her mask broke.
“Two weeks.”
Grace covered her mouth.
I felt rage rise and forced it back down.
“What did you want?”
“The key.”
Of course.
The vault.
My mother would not surrender it.
So Victoria weakened her.
Watched her.
Pressed harder.
Then Evelyn collapsed for reasons Victoria claimed she never intended.
Maybe true.
Maybe not.
It did not matter enough.
Because my mother spent her final days afraid inside her own home.
Victoria looked at me.
“I stopped.”
I stared.
“You want credit?”
“No.”
“Good.”
My voice dropped.
May you like
“Because my mother is still dead.”
And for the first time that night, Victoria had no answer cruel enough to hide behind.
