Chapter 8: Victoria Comes Back Fighting
She arrived at seven the next morning.
I was still at Daniel's — I had stayed in the guest room, and we had spent the evening making copies of every document and storing them in two separate locations.
I heard the front door.
I heard her heels on the hardwood.
I was dressed and downstairs before she reached the kitchen.
She stopped when she saw me.
"You're still here," she said.
"Good morning, Victoria."
She set her bag on the counter.
She had composed herself overnight.
Hair done, clothes pressed, the full armor back in place.
But her eyes went immediately to the dining room, to the table that was now cleared.
"Where are the papers?" she said.
"Safe," I said.
She turned to look at me.
"I'd like to speak to my husband."
"He's upstairs.
He'll be down shortly."
"Alone."
"That's not going to happen today."
Something moved through her expression — a flash of something cold.
Then it was gone.
"Clara." She turned to face me fully.
"I know what you think you've found.
But you don't have the full picture.
Those transfers — Daniel knew about them.
We discussed them.
They were for a personal project I was managing.
A private investment."
"Then you'll have no trouble explaining that to our attorney."
Her chin lifted.
"Your attorney."
"Family attorney," I said.
"We have an appointment this morning."
"You cannot take legal action against me without Daniel's agreement."
"Daniel is in agreement."
She stared at me.
The composure held, but something behind it shifted.
"He wouldn't do that," she said.
"He loves me."
"He does," I said.
"That's what makes this harder for him.
But he's doing it anyway."
She was quiet for a moment.
Then she walked to the kitchen table and sat down.
She set her hands flat on the surface.
She looked at them.
"What do you want?" she said.
It was the first time she had asked me that directly.
"I want you to answer for what you did to Margaret Chen.
I want you to answer for what you did to Renata Holloway.
And I want you to answer for what you've been taking from this household for the past two years."
"Margaret Chen was a thief."
"No.
She wasn't."
"Renata Holloway was unstable.
She made me uncomfortable."
"She said good morning to you once."
Victoria's jaw tightened.
"You have no idea what it was like.
You come in here with your title and your trust fund and your righteous—"
"I come in here covered in the muddy water you threw at me," I said.
"On our mother's birthday.
In the garden she planted."
Silence.
"I want a deal," Victoria said.
"I'll repay the money.
All of it.
And I'll leave.
No attorneys, no police, no public record.
I'll sign whatever Daniel needs for the divorce.
Quietly.
Quickly."
"And Margaret Chen?"
"I'll write her a letter."
"You'll do more than that."
"What more do you want from me?" Her voice cracked — not the practiced crack from the driveway, something rawer underneath it.
"I'll be ruined.
Is that what you want?
You want me ruined?"
Daniel appeared in the kitchen doorway.
He was dressed.
He had heard enough.
His face was very still.
"Victoria," he said.
"We're going to Grace Adler's office at nine.
You can come with us and speak for yourself, or we go without you and speak for ourselves.
That's the choice."
She looked at him.
Really looked at him, the way she had not looked at me until it was already too late.
"Daniel—"
"I watched you from the window," he said.
"I watched the whole thing.
And I've been watching for longer than you know."
Her hands, still flat on the table, pressed down hard.
Then she picked up her bag.
"Fine," she said.
"I'll come."
She walked past both of us without another word.
Daniel looked at me.
I looked at him.
May you like
We left for Grace's office twenty minutes later.
All three of us in separate cars.
