Chapter 6: The Day They Almost Won
Martin ended the call and dialed emergency services.
David sent his security director Nora’s address.
Victoria picked up the blue box.
“Put that down,” I said.
“These are Mercer records.”
“They are my letters.”
She walked toward the fireplace.
Elena blocked her.
“You are not destroying anything else.”
Charles pulled Victoria back.
“Not here,” he muttered.
Martin removed the box from her hands.
“That attempt is on the recording too.”
Victoria turned to David.
“You are choosing these people over your wife.”
“I’m choosing the truth.”
“Then hear all of it.”
She opened an email on her phone and held it up.
The message had been sent from David’s account two years earlier: Mother wants privacy.
Handle everything without involving her directly.
David stared at the screen.
“I wrote that.”
Victoria’s smile returned.
“Exactly.”
I looked at my son.
“Why?”
“You canceled dinner three times.”
“I was working double shifts.”
“You said you were tired and didn’t want help.”
“I didn’t want charity.
I wanted dinner with my son.”
David lowered his head.
Victoria stepped closer to me.
“He believed me because part of him wanted to.
Sending money was easier than showing up.”
“Stop,” David said.
“No.
Your mother deserves honesty.”
My chest tightened.
I turned toward the cupboard filled with unopened cards.
David caught my hand.
“Mom, look at me.”
“I spent two years defending you to myself.”
“I know.”
“I told myself you were busy.
I told myself not to become a burden.”
His voice broke.
“And I let you.”
Victoria watched us without blinking.
Then Elena placed the bracelet back into my palm.
“This belongs to you,” she said.
“And none of this is your shame.”
Lily came down the last step and wrapped both arms around my waist.
“My mom says families are supposed to tell the truth even when it hurts.”
I pressed the bracelet to my chest.
David knelt beside me.
“I cannot repair two years today,” he said.
“But I will stop hiding behind what I paid for.”
Outside, another car arrived.
David’s security director entered with a tablet.
“We have a problem.
Your board called an emergency meeting.
They received copies of the transfers and the forged authorization.”
Victoria’s mouth curved upward.
David looked at her.
“You sent them.”
“I protected myself.”
The security director continued.
“They have suspended David’s signing authority pending review.”
Charles buttoned his coat.
“Without David’s authority, Mercer retains management control until a court says otherwise.”
“This is my property,” I said.
“And our company has a recorded agreement.”
“A false agreement.”
“That remains to be proved.”
Victoria slipped her wedding ring from her finger and set it beside the blue box.
“You wanted the truth, David.
Now you can explain to your investors why your money paid for a house occupied by your wife’s secret sister.”
She walked outside with Charles.
Martin’s phone rang again.
Nora’s voice came through the speaker.
“They got into my apartment, but I wasn’t there.
I’m with the police now.”
“Do you have the recording?” Martin asked.
“No.
They took my laptop.”
Victoria stopped beside the car and looked back through the window.
May you like
Nora whispered one final sentence.
“But they don’t know I sent a copy to David’s mother six months ago.”
