Chapter 7 - Victoria Finally Broke
Victoria lasted forty-eight hours.
Then she asked for a deal.
Detective Morgan called Nathan Wednesday morning.
“She wants to speak with you.”
“No.”
Grace looked up from the kitchen table.
Nathan had moved Grace and Lily into a secure guest apartment owned by Daniel rather than the Cole penthouse.
Grace refused Nathan’s offer to move into one of his houses.
“I’m not becoming dependent on another Cole man,” she had said.
Nathan respected that.
Morgan continued.
“She says she’ll cooperate if she can speak to you first.”
“Then she doesn’t want to cooperate.”
“She claims Eleanor ordered Margaret followed.”
Nathan looked at Grace.
Grace’s expression changed.
“What else?”
“She says she knows what happened the night Margaret died.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
“I’ll come.”
The interview took place behind glass.
Victoria sat on the other side of the table wearing county-issued clothing.
No makeup.
No diamonds.
No armor.
Nathan entered.
She looked up.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then Victoria laughed weakly.
“You look tired.”
Nathan sat.
“You tried to hurt my daughter.”
Her face tightened.
“I was scared.”
“You raised a hockey stick over a four-year-old.”
“I wasn’t going to hit Lily.”
“You already hit Grace.”
“She jumped in front of me.”
Nathan stared.
Victoria looked down.
“I know how that sounds.”
“It sounds accurate.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“I didn’t know what to do.”
“Tell the truth.”
“My mother would have destroyed me.”
Nathan almost laughed.
“Welcome to the club.”
Victoria flinched.
“I’ve known about Grace for three years.”
“I know.”
“I found one of her letters.”
Nathan said nothing.
Victoria continued.
“My mother told me Grace was a con artist.”
“You believed her?”
“At first.”
“And later?”
Victoria stared at her hands.
“Later I knew.”
“How?”
“I found the DNA report.”
Nathan’s jaw tightened.
“You knew Lily was mine.”
“Yes.”
“While you accepted my proposal.”
“Yes.”
“While we planned a wedding.”
“Yes.”
Nathan looked at her.
“Why?”
Victoria laughed through tears.
“Because my entire life was built toward marrying you.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It is in my family.”
She leaned forward.
“My grandfather used to say Vale women didn’t inherit companies. We married into leverage.”
Nathan felt disgust.
“My mother spent twenty years building me into something useful.”
“That explains you.”
Victoria looked up.
“But it doesn’t excuse me.”
For once, Nathan had no response.
She continued.
“When your father amended the trust, my mother panicked.”
“How did she learn?”
“Your father’s accountant.”
“Name.”
“Peter Sloan.”
Nathan knew him.
Of course.
Someone else.
“My mother told me if Lily appeared before our wedding, everything would collapse.”
“So you tried to make Grace disappear again.”
Victoria shook her head.
“Not originally.”
“What was the plan?”
“Get her fired.”
Nathan’s eyes hardened.
“From my house?”
“Yes.”
“Then?”
“Make sure she found work somewhere else.”
“Why did Margaret die?”
Victoria stopped.
There.
Nathan leaned forward.
“Tell me.”
“My mother discovered Margaret had copied the pact.”
“Did you follow her?”
“Yes.”
“Did you kill her?”
“No.”
The answer came immediately.
Too quickly?
Nathan watched.
Victoria started crying.
“I followed her to the bank.”
“The photograph.”
“Yes.”
“I told my mother she had a safe-deposit box.”
“What happened?”
“My mother sent someone.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know his real name.”
“Victoria.”
“I swear.”
She wiped her face.
“They called him Miller.”
“What was he supposed to do?”
“Scare Margaret. Get the key.”
Nathan’s voice went quiet.
“And?”
“He followed her after dinner.”
Victoria’s breathing became uneven.
“My mother called me after midnight.”
Nathan waited.
“She said Margaret was dead.”
“Did she say how?”
“She said Miller forced her car off the road.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
Grace had been right.
Dead people keep secrets.
Victoria continued.
“My mother told me Margaret had made her choice.”
Nathan stood.
Victoria panicked.
“Wait.”
He stared down at her.
“You knew Margaret was murdered.”
“Yes.”
“And you attended her funeral.”
Victoria’s face collapsed.
“I was terrified.”
“You held my hand.”
“I know.”
“My daughter was four floors away from you for three months while you knew all of this.”
“I didn’t know Grace had taken the maid position until recently.”
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“And then?”
Victoria closed her eyes.
“I searched her room.”
Nathan felt sick.
“You searched Grace’s room?”
“I found Lily’s birth certificate.”
“Then you knew.”
“Yes.”
“What were you looking for?”
“Proof Grace contacted your father.”
“Why?”
“Because Mom believed Edward gave her something before he died.”
The trust amendment.
“Then you found out about Lily.”
Victoria nodded.
“The wedding was two weeks away.”
Nathan’s expression hardened.
“So you decided to frame Grace.”
“The passports were supposed to make her look like she was leaving.”
“The custody petition?”
“My mother arranged it.”
“Dr. Ridge?”
“My mother.”
“The fake messages?”
Victoria nodded.
Nathan’s voice became colder.
“And the hockey stick?”
Victoria stared at the table.
“That was me.”
There it was.
No mother.
No attorney.
No dead father.
Her.
“Why?”
“Grace confronted me.”
“About what?”
“She found a file in my room.”
“What file?”
“Her letters.”
Nathan inhaled.
Victoria continued.
“She said she was going to tell you everything.”
“So you attacked her.”
“I panicked.”
Nathan remembered blood spreading beneath Grace’s uniform.
Lily screaming.
Victoria raising the stick.
“Dead people keep secrets.”
Victoria began sobbing.
“I didn’t mean it.”
“But you said it.”
“Yes.”
“You were thinking about Margaret.”
“Yes.”
Nathan walked toward the door.
Victoria called after him.
“Nathan.”
He stopped.
“I did love you.”
Nathan turned.
“No.”
Her face crumpled.
“You loved what marrying me protected.”
He left.
The information Victoria provided led police to a private security contractor.
The contractor led investigators to Miller.
Miller had disappeared.
But bank transfers didn’t.
Neither did phone records.
Within a week, Eleanor Vale was facing additional charges related to Margaret’s death investigation.
Dr. Ridge’s license was suspended pending review.
Peter Sloan resigned.
Three Cole directors hired criminal-defense attorneys.
The empire wasn’t collapsing.
It was confessing.
Then Nathan received a call from Rebecca.
“We have the paternity hearing tomorrow.”
“Do we still need one?”
“Yes.”
“DNA is clear.”
“This isn’t about biology anymore.”
Nathan knew what she meant.
Grace.
Custody.
The court.
His daughter.
“What is Grace asking for?”
“Full custody.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
“And visitation?”
“Supervised initially.”
His chest tightened.
He had expected pain.
It still arrived.
“Does she think I’m dangerous?”
Rebecca hesitated.
“She thinks your world is.”
Nathan looked through the window.
Grace and Lily were baking cookies in Daniel’s kitchen.
Lily had flour on her nose.
Nathan watched her laugh.
“What do you recommend?”
Rebecca waited.
“Nathan?”
“I’m asking as my attorney.”
“Fight for joint custody eventually.”
“Eventually.”
“Yes.”
Nathan continued watching Lily.
“What if I don’t fight?”
Rebecca went quiet.
“What do you mean?”
“What if I tell the judge Grace should keep full custody?”
“Nathan.”
“She protected Lily for four years.”
“Yes.”
“My family terrorized her.”
“Yes.”
“I have known my daughter for six days.”
Rebecca softened.
“You’re still her father.”
“I know.”
Nathan’s eyes filled.
“That means I should do what’s best for her.”
Not what he wanted.
Not what his name could purchase.
May you like
What was best.
For the first time, Nathan understood how different those things could be.
