Chapter 9 - VICTORIA’S SECOND BETRAYAL
Arthur called Victoria.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Her police escort reported that she had disappeared from the safe residence thirty minutes earlier.
Arthur felt humiliation burn through him.
He had handed Victoria the original St. Agnes strip.
He had allowed himself to believe she was finally choosing differently.
Now Claire was missing.
And Victoria was gone.
Daniel sat inside an interrogation room.
“You planned this?”
He smiled.
“Victoria planned her part.”
Arthur stared through the glass.
“What part?”
“Saving herself.”
Daniel claimed Victoria had negotiated secretly with Richard.
In exchange for immunity from her father and access to hidden Ashford money, she would deliver Claire.
Arthur wanted to believe Daniel was lying.
Then investigators found a message from Victoria’s burner phone.
To Richard:
I HAVE HER.
Arthur closed his eyes.
Maya was standing nearby.
“She did it again.”
Arthur looked at her.
Maya’s face was different now.
Not frightened.
Hurt.
“She said she was sorry.”
Arthur did not know what to say.
Because he had wanted to believe remorse mattered.
Perhaps it did.
Perhaps it simply did not erase character.
Then another message arrived.
From Victoria.
An address.
And two words:
TRUST ME.
Arthur stared.
Maya laughed bitterly.
“No.”
Arthur agreed.
“No.”
But federal agents traced the message.
An abandoned equestrian center.
They surrounded it.
Inside was an ambulance.
Claire lay on a stretcher.
Alive.
Victoria sat beside her.
No Richard.
No gunmen.
Arthur entered carefully.
Victoria stood.
“You came.”
Arthur stared at his sister.
For twelve years he had imagined her dead.
Now she was ten feet away.
Thin.
Pale.
Eyes closed.
Breathing.
Arthur’s legs nearly gave out.
“Claire.”
Her eyelids moved.
Slowly opened.
She stared at him.
Confusion.
Then recognition.
“Artie?”
Nobody had called him that since childhood.
Arthur broke.
He dropped beside the stretcher.
Claire raised one trembling hand.
Touched his face.
“You got old.”
Arthur laughed while crying.
“So did you.”
Maya and Noah entered behind him.
Claire saw them.
Her face changed completely.
“Maya?”
Maya froze.
Her mother knew her.
“Noah?”
Noah began crying.
Claire reached toward them.
The reunion was quiet.
Almost painful to watch.
No dramatic speeches.
Just four people touching each other as if afraid someone might disappear again.
Then Arthur remembered Victoria.
He stood.
“What did you do?”
Victoria looked exhausted.
“I told Richard I would bring Claire.”
“You messaged him.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To make him come.”
Arthur frowned.
“He didn’t.”
“No.”
She looked frightened.
“He knew I was lying.”
“How?”
Victoria swallowed.
“Because Daniel warned him.”
Arthur turned toward the agents.
Daniel had played both sides again.
Victoria continued.
“I got Claire away before Richard’s men arrived.”
“How?”
“I knew the access codes.”
Arthur stared.
“You could have done this years ago.”
Victoria lowered her eyes.
“Yes.”
The answer hurt more than excuses.
Maya looked at her.
“Why didn’t you?”
Victoria began crying.
“Because I was a coward.”
Maya said nothing.
Victoria did not ask forgiveness.
That was the first smart thing she had done.
Claire was transferred to a protected hospital.
Doctors believed much of her cognitive function could improve now that she was free of unnecessary sedation.
Her memory remained fragmented.
But certain moments were clear.
She remembered the fire.
Richard.
Daniel.
Charles.
And one more thing.
“There was another account,” Claire whispered.
Arthur leaned closer.
“What account?”
“Not money.”
“What?”
“Names.”
She looked terrified.
“Richard kept names.”
“Of everyone he owned?”
Claire nodded.
“Judges.”
“Police.”
“Board members.”
“Doctors.”
“Where?”
Claire closed her eyes.
“I hid it.”
Arthur felt hope.
“St. Agnes?”
“No.”
She opened her eyes.
“I hid it inside Arthur’s house.”
Arthur froze.
“My house?”
Claire nodded.
“Before the fire.”
Twelve years earlier.
Before Maya and Noah disappeared.
Claire had entered Arthur’s estate and hidden the most dangerous evidence of Richard Ashford’s network.
Arthur asked:
“Where?”
Claire whispered:
“Under the place where Mother taught us not to lie.”
Arthur knew immediately.
The old nursery.
Their mother’s reading bench.
May you like
A room Arthur had sealed after his mother died.
A room now located directly behind Victoria’s dressing room.
