CHAPTER 3 WHAT VICTORIA TRIED TO DESTROY
The police took Derek away at 9:18 p.m.
By 9:30, the guests had been separated into different rooms for statements.
By 10:05, my birthday party looked like a disaster scene.
The cake lay crushed across the kitchen floor. Champagne glasses remained half full. Gold balloons floated above officers photographing bruises on my arm. Every celebration decoration had become evidence of what Derek believed he could do without consequences.
Victoria sat in the formal dining room.
She had not been arrested.
Not yet.
She held her purse in her lap and stared at me with calm hatred while an officer stood near the door.
“You always were dramatic,” she said.
Dad was speaking with detectives across the room. Marcus had gone to retrieve documents from Derek’s upstairs office.
I looked at Victoria.
“You watched him hurt me.”
“I watched my son manage a difficult marriage.”
“He slapped me.”
“You embarrassed him.”
The ease of her answer stunned me more than cruelty would have.
There was no hesitation. No guilt. No effort to deny what happened.
In Victoria’s mind, Derek had not committed violence.
He had corrected an inconvenience.
“You told him to do it,” I said.
Her lips curved.
“You think too highly of your importance. Derek does not need instructions to handle his wife.”
An officer glanced toward us.
Victoria lowered her voice.
“You should have learned your position.”
“My position?”
“You married into the Vance family. We gave you a home, status, access and protection. In return, we expected loyalty.”
“My father bought this house.”
For the first time, her expression flickered.
I had not known that fact until Marcus whispered it to Dad ten minutes earlier. The mansion had originally belonged to a real-estate holding company connected to my father’s trust. Derek had told everyone the property was a wedding gift from Victoria.
The lie had lasted three years.
Victoria recovered quickly.
“Your father contributed to the purchase.”
“He paid for all of it.”
“That is not how Derek explained the arrangement.”
“Derek lies.”
She leaned forward.
“So do you.”
My stomach tightened.
Victoria opened her purse.
The officer immediately stepped closer.
She raised one hand.
“Lipstick.”
She slowly removed a gold tube, applied it without using a mirror and returned it to the bag.
“You told people you fell in the bathroom last month,” she said.
“Because Derek threatened me.”
“You told your mother you were happy.”
“Because you listened to my calls.”
“You smiled in photographs.”
“Because you bruised places the camera couldn’t see.”
That silenced her.
Not because she felt ashamed.
Because I had finally spoken plainly.
Marcus entered carrying two laptops and a thick stack of files sealed in evidence sleeves.
Dad followed him.
“Arthur,” Victoria said, “surely we can resolve this without destroying both families.”
Dad placed one hand on the back of a chair.
“You stopped being family when you helped your son turn Lucy into a financial shield.”
“You have no proof.”
Marcus held up the recorder from beneath the sink.
“We might.”
Victoria looked at it.
“That device was illegally placed in my son’s home.”
“Your son’s home?” Dad asked. “Interesting choice of words.”
She said nothing.
Marcus connected the recorder to his tablet.
The audio file list appeared on the screen.
There were forty-three recordings.
Some were only a few minutes long.
Others lasted for hours.
The earliest recording was dated eleven months ago.
I stared at the list.
“Who activated it?”
Marcus selected the first file.
Static filled the room.
Then Victoria’s voice emerged.
“You cannot leave bruises on her face before the charity gala.”
My lungs stopped working.
Derek answered.
“She provoked me.”
“I don’t care what she did. Her father watches her too closely.”
“I can handle Arthur.”
“No, you cannot. Arthur built his career destroying men who thought they were smarter than him.”
A chair scraped across the recording.
Then Victoria spoke again.
“Until the transfer is complete, you need Lucy cooperative. Once the liabilities are in her name, her usefulness ends.”
The file stopped.
No one in the room moved.
Victoria’s face had gone pale.
Dad turned toward the officer.
“I believe you now have probable cause to seize every device she owns.”
Victoria stood.
“You cannot prove that recording is authentic.”
Marcus played another file.
Derek’s voice filled the room.
“She keeps asking about the signatures.”
Victoria answered.
“Then make her afraid to ask again.”
My knees weakened.
Dad reached for me, but I stepped away.
I did not want to be held.
I wanted to understand.
Every argument. Every apology. Every expensive gift after Derek hurt me. Every time Victoria told me marriage required sacrifice.
It had all been strategy.
“Why?” I asked.
Victoria looked at me.
For a moment, I expected another lie.
Instead, she gave me the truth because she still believed the truth could not hurt her.
“Because you were perfect.”
My voice trembled.
“Perfect for what?”
“You had an excellent credit history, no business experience and a father whose reputation made banks trust your name.”
“You chose me?”
“Derek noticed you at the Harrison Foundation dinner. I researched you afterward.”
The room seemed to tilt.
That gala was where Derek and I first met.
He had spilled champagne near my shoes, apologized with a charming smile and sent flowers the next morning.
I had told everyone it felt like fate.
It had been reconnaissance.
Victoria continued.
“You were lonely. Your father was always working. Your mother avoided conflict. You wanted to believe someone had chosen you above everyone else.”
Dad closed his eyes.
She knew exactly where to cut.
“Derek gave you attention,” Victoria said. “You gave him access.”
“You ruined my life.”
“No. You were weak enough to surrender it.”
Dad moved so quickly that the officer stepped between him and Victoria.
But I raised my hand.
“Dad.”
He stopped.
I looked directly at Victoria.
“You’re wrong.”
She smiled faintly.
“About what?”
“I was not weak because I loved your son.”
My voice steadied.
“I was not weak because I believed my husband. I was not weak because I wanted my marriage to work.”
I took one step closer.
“But you mistook my trust for stupidity.”
Her smile disappeared.
“And that mistake is going to cost you everything.”
An officer asked Victoria to surrender her phone.
She refused.
When he reached for her purse, she pulled it against her chest.
“This is outrageous.”
The officer repeated the order.
Victoria finally opened the purse and handed over her phone.
A second device fell from an interior pocket.
It was small, black and unregistered.
Marcus picked it up with gloved hands.
“A burner phone.”
Victoria’s eyes followed it.
That reaction was enough.
Marcus turned it on.
There were no saved contacts, but several recent messages remained visible.
One had been sent twenty minutes before Dad arrived at the party.
ARTHUR IS COMING. MOVE THE GIRL BEFORE HE SEES HER.
I stared at the screen.
“What girl?”
Nobody answered.
Marcus opened the replies.
A message had arrived three minutes later.
TOO LATE. SHE’S AWAKE.
Dad’s face changed.
“Where was this message sent from?”
Marcus checked the metadata.
“The number pinged less than two miles from here.”
“Can you get an address?”
“I’m trying.”
Victoria lunged for the phone.
The officer restrained her.
“Who is the girl?” I demanded.
Victoria stopped struggling.
For the first time that night, I saw genuine fear in her eyes.
Not fear for Derek.
Not fear for herself.
Fear of what we were about to find.
Marcus looked up from the tablet.
“I have the address.”
Dad was already moving.
“Call local police. Tell them there may be a woman held against her will.”
Victoria shouted after him.
“You don’t understand what you’re doing!”
Dad stopped in the doorway.
“No, Victoria.”
He looked back at her.
“I think I’m finally beginning to understand exactly what you’ve done.”
Twenty minutes later, police forced open the door of an abandoned guesthouse owned by Vance Development Group.
Inside, they found a woman unconscious on a bedroom floor.
She wore a red coat.
And when the paramedics turned her over, I recognized her.
She had been a bridesmaid at my wedding.
Her name was Rachel Kane.
May you like
Derek’s former fiancée.
The woman Victoria told me had died five years ago.
