Chapter 3
The accusation hit the air like a physical blow. The murmurs among the guests instantly morphed into sharp gasps of shock.
"What are you talking about?" Victoria demanded, her voice shaking with barely contained fury. She looked down at the silver phone resting on the marble, then back up at Richard’s triumphant face.
"I set my phone on the table not five minutes ago," Richard declared, projecting his voice to the gallery of wealthy onlookers. "And now it magically appears under the little street rat's chair? She’s a thief, Victoria. You brought a thief into this family."
"She is six years old, Richard!" Victoria yelled, her composure entirely shattering. "She doesn't even know what your phone looks like!"
"Thievery is a compulsion, my dear," Eleanor added, stepping forward to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with her son. The matriarch looked down at the sobbing child with undisguised revulsion. "It is exactly what I warned my son about when you brought this creature into our home. Bad blood always tells. First a phone, tomorrow my jewelry."
Lily pulled her face away from Victoria’s neck. The little girl’s rosy cheeks were stained with tears, her blue eyes wide with a terror that went far deeper than the physical pain of the fall. She looked at the smartphone on the floor, then up at the towering, hateful adults surrounding her.
She clung tighter to Victoria, her small knuckles turning white, and began shaking her head frantically.
"Mommy…" Lily sobbed, her voice a fragile, broken whisper that shattered Victoria’s heart. "I never touched it. I didn't, Mommy."
"I know you didn't, my sweet girl," Victoria said fiercely, kissing the child's forehead. "Mommy knows."
"Oh, please. Spare us the maternal melodrama," Richard sneered, crossing his arms over his tuxedo jacket. "The evidence is literally lying at her feet. She swiped it while we were distracted. Just admit it, Victoria. Your little charity case is defective."
Victoria stared at her brother-in-law, her mind racing, putting the pieces together with terrifying clarity. The sudden kick. The perfectly placed phone. The immediate, coordinated verbal assault.
"You planned this," Victoria whispered, her voice dropping to a dangerous, icy register.
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"Don't be absurd," Eleanor scoffed, waving a manicured hand. "We merely exposed the truth."
"You planned this to humiliate a child!" Victoria’s voice cracked like a whip. "You planted your phone, and you kicked her chair to create a scene! You monsters set up a six-year-old girl just to humiliate me!"
