Chapter 5 - Victoria Walks InVictoria did not knock.
Ten minutes after we saw her car, Catherine’s receptionist stepped into the conference room looking deeply uncomfortable.
“Ms. Moore, Victoria Cole is here.”
Catherine didn't blink.
“Does she have an appointment?”
“No.”
“Then she can make one.”
Victoria appeared behind her.
“I don't require an appointment to speak with my son.”
Nathan stood.
“You do now.”
Victoria stopped.
Her gaze traveled around the room.
Catherine.
Marcus.
Rachel.
Me.
Then my stomach.
For one fraction of a second, the polished expression broke.
There it was.
Not joy.
Not surprise.
Resentment.
“So,” she said. “It's true.”
I almost laughed.
“You already knew.”
Victoria's eyes returned to mine.
“I knew you were claiming to be pregnant.”
“Claiming?”
Nathan stepped around the table.
“Leave.”
“Nathan, don't be childish.”
“Leave.”
“I came because Brianna is unstable.”
“That line isn't going to work anymore.”
Victoria's mouth tightened.
“What has she told you?”
Catherine stood.
“Mrs. Cole, I'm Catherine Moore. I represent Emma Bennett. Anything you say in this room may become relevant to litigation.”
Victoria gave her an icy smile.
“Then perhaps Emma should reconsider allowing you to intimidate family members.”
“Emma didn't invite you.”
Victoria ignored her.
“Nathan, come downstairs. We'll talk privately.”
“No.”
“I am your mother.”
“And Emma was my wife when you spent a year trying to destroy our marriage.”
Silence.
Victoria didn't flinch.
That impressed me in a horrible way.
“What exactly do you believe I've done?”
Nathan picked up the altered consent documents.
“Which one would you like to start with?”
For the first time, Victoria's eyes flickered.
Briefly.
But Catherine saw it.
So did I.
Nathan placed the documents on the table.
“My copy says no transfer without additional authorization.”
He placed mine beside it.
“Emma's says I approved the transfer.”
Victoria looked bored.
“You had incompetent lawyers.”
“You recommended both of them.”
“I recommended respected attorneys.”
“You also hired Brianna.”
Victoria's expression sharpened.
“According to whom?”
“Brianna.”
“A woman who discovered I disliked her and now wants revenge.”
Nathan laughed.
“You paid her from Carrington Strategic Services.”
That one landed.
Victoria's face changed.
Barely.
Enough.
Catherine leaned back in her chair.
“Thank you.”
Victoria turned.
“For what?”
“For confirming that name means something to you.”
“I confirmed nothing.”
“You did with your expression.”
Victoria smiled again.
“You watch too much television.”
Catherine didn't respond.
I did.
“Why didn't you want me to have this baby?”
Victoria finally looked directly at me.
“Emma, don't flatter yourself.”
“Answer.”
“You always did enjoy making yourself the victim.”
Nathan stepped between us.
“Don't speak to her that way.”
“Oh, now you're defending her again.”
Something in Victoria's tone revealed more than she intended.
I saw it.
So did Nathan.
He stared at her.
“That was the problem, wasn't it?”
“What?”
“Not fertility treatments. Not money. Not Emma's career.”
He moved closer.
“You hated that I chose her over you.”
Victoria gave him a pitying look.
“You're being melodramatic.”
“No. I spent eleven years pretending your constant interference was concern.”
“Nathan—”
“You called our real-estate agent and tried to stop us buying our house.”
“Because it was overpriced.”
“You contacted Emma's employer after our wedding.”
“They were overworking her.”
“You scheduled family vacations over our anniversaries.”
“Coincidences.”
“You entered our house without permission.”
“You gave me a key.”
“I took it back. You made another.”
Victoria said nothing.
Nathan's voice broke.
“You used our infertility to separate us.”
For the first time, pain showed on his face.
Not rage.
Pain.
“You knew exactly where to cut because we trusted you with everything.”
Victoria looked at her son as though he were a child throwing a tantrum.
“You were miserable.”
“Sometimes.”
“She made you miserable.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
Nathan shook his head.
“Our infertility made us sad. Work made us stressed. Grief made us tired. None of those things meant I stopped loving her.”
Victoria's jaw tightened.
“You filed for divorce.”
“Because I believed lies.”
“You filed because somewhere inside yourself you wanted freedom.”
Nathan looked at me.
I didn't rescue him.
He owed himself the truth.
He turned back to Victoria.
“Maybe part of me did. And that part is mine to live with. But you didn't give us a chance to decide what our marriage was. You manufactured evidence.”
“Prove it.”
Catherine's eyebrows lifted.
Victoria realized her mistake immediately.
Most innocent people said I didn't do it.
Victoria had said prove it.
Nathan heard it too.
He pulled open the door.
“Get out.”
Victoria didn't move.
Instead she looked at me.
“You should be careful, Emma.”
Catherine stepped forward.
“That sounded remarkably like a threat.”
“It was advice.”
“I don't want your advice,” I said.
“You will when you realize what you're doing.”
“What am I doing?”
“Using a child to reopen a dead marriage.”
Nathan's face darkened.
But I stopped him.
“No.”
I stood carefully.
My back ached.
My ankles were swollen.
I was tired of feeling physically enormous and emotionally small whenever Victoria entered a room.
So I walked toward her.
“You want to know what I'm doing?”
Her eyes narrowed.
“I'm having my daughter.”
“Under questionable circumstances.”
“She isn't questionable.”
“The transfer was.”
“Because someone forged documents.”
Victoria's face remained smooth.
“An accusation.”
“And whoever did it made one mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“They assumed Nathan and I would hate each other forever.”
Silence.
I continued.
“You built the entire plan around us never comparing notes.”
Victoria's eyes hardened.
“And now we have.”
For the first time, she looked uncertain.
Not frightened.
But inconvenienced.
That was enough.
She turned toward Nathan.
“Your grandfather's trust belongs to this family.”
Nathan laughed.
“There it is.”
“I spent twenty-two years managing those assets.”
“For yourself?”
“For all of you.”
“You paid Brianna with trust money.”
“Prove it.”
Again.
The same answer.
Catherine actually smiled.
Victoria saw it.
Her patience cracked.
“I will not stand here and be interrogated by strangers because Emma became pregnant through a procedure my son never authorized.”
Nathan stepped closer.
“Did you forge my signature?”
“No.”
The first direct denial.
“Did you arrange for anyone else to forge it?”
“No.”
“Did you obtain Emma's medical records from Lydia Shaw?”
Victoria paused.
Two seconds.
Maybe three.
“I know many people.”
Nathan's eyes went cold.
“Did Lydia give you Emma's records?”
“I won't dignify this.”
“You just did.”
Victoria picked up her handbag.
“Fine. Destroy yourselves again.”
She headed toward the door.
Then stopped beside me.
Her voice dropped.
“Ask Nathan why he was really in Seattle the week of your embryo transfer.”
Nathan went completely still.
Victoria smiled.
There was cruelty in it.
Then she walked out.
The room remained silent.
I turned toward Nathan.
“What does she mean?”
He didn't answer quickly enough.
My stomach dropped.
“Nathan.”
He rubbed his forehead.
“There was something I never told you.”
Rachel muttered, “Of course there was.”
I sat down.
“Go ahead.”
Nathan looked miserable.
“Seattle wasn't only a business trip.”
“What was it?”
“My firm had offered me a partnership position there.”
I stared.
“You were planning to move?”
“I was considering it.”
“Without me?”
“No. At first, I thought we'd both move.”
“You never told me.”
“Because by then everything between us was falling apart.”
“So you decided to investigate moving across the country?”
“I was confused.”
I laughed bitterly.
“That word does a lot of work.”
“I know.”
“Anything else?”
“Yes.”
My heart sank.
Nathan continued.
“My mother came to Seattle.”
“What?”
“She said she was attending a foundation event.”
“Was she?”
“I don't know anymore.”
“Did you meet her?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
Nathan looked toward the documents.
“She brought the papers I signed.”
I stopped breathing.
“She was with you when you signed them?”
“Yes.”
“Did you watch what happened afterward?”
“No.”
“Who took the documents?”
“She did.”
There it was.
A direct chain.
Not proof of forgery.
But opportunity.
Catherine immediately started writing.
“What date?” she asked.
“November fifteenth.”
“Where?”
“The Fairmont Hotel lobby.”
“Cameras?”
Nathan gave her a hopeless look.
“That was ten months ago.”
“Hotels keep different retention schedules. We'll ask.”
His phone buzzed.
A text message.
He looked at it.
His face changed.
“It's Brianna.”
“What?”
He turned the screen.
Victoria knows I'm talking. Someone broke into my apartment. The backup phone is gone.
Below it came another message.
But they didn't find everything.
Catherine immediately called Brianna.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Then a third message appeared.
It contained a photograph.
An old manila envelope.
Across the front, handwritten in black ink:
EMMA BENNETT — HAWTHORNE ORIGINALS
My heart hammered.
Brianna sent one final message.
Lydia gave this to me before she disappeared. Victoria thinks it was destroyed.
Nathan typed rapidly.
Where are you?
No response.
One minute.
Two.
Five.
Catherine contacted police.
I watched the screen.
Then another message finally appeared.
Not from Brianna.
From an unknown number.
A photograph loaded.
Brianna's abandoned car sat in a parking garage.
The driver door was open.
Her purse lay on the ground.
And beneath the photograph were six words.
Stop digging before someone gets hurt.
Nathan looked at me.
Catherine was already calling law enforcement.
My daughter shifted beneath my ribs.
I rested both hands over her.
Victoria had spent months making Nathan and me distrust each other.
Now someone wanted us frightened.
But fear had already cost us enough.
I looked at Catherine.
“Find Brianna.”
May you like
Then at Nathan.
“And after that, we find out what's inside that envelope.”
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