Chapter 7 - THE NIGHT THE MASK FELL
I confronted Victoria in the living room that evening.
I placed the photograph on the table between us.
“Why were you meeting Dr. Reed before we met?”
She stared at it without touching it.
“Where did you get that?”
“Answer the question.”
She stood abruptly.
“I don't owe you an explanation for every person I've ever known.”
“No. But you owe me the truth about documents bearing my forged signature, the trust belonging to our children, and the woman you tied to my bed.”
Her face twisted.
“You keep saying that as though I wanted to hurt the babies!”
“You strapped them to an injured woman and left them there.”
“They were safe!”
“Emily was bleeding.”
“She was manipulating you!”
The words echoed through the room.
I stared at her.
“Why are you so afraid of her?”
Victoria's mouth opened.
Then she laughed bitterly.
“Because she sees things. She listens. She notices everything you ignore.”
“Such as?”
“Such as the fact that this family was never supposed to be mine!”
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then Victoria sat down and covered her face.
Her confession came in fragments.
She had met Richard's business adviser, Dr. Reed, through a private financial network before she met me. Richard's company was already in serious trouble. When Victoria learned about my family's wealth, her brother encouraged her to pursue a relationship with me.
She insisted that she had fallen in love.
I asked her whether she had approached me because of my money.
She did not answer.
Instead, she told me that after we married, Richard's debts became impossible to ignore.
He begged her for help.
She agreed to explore whether she could obtain lawful access to family funds.
But when she learned that the twins' trust was protected by independent trustees, she became desperate.
She wanted to influence decisions about the children's money before the trust became fully established.
“And the hospital records?” I asked.
Victoria looked away.
“Dr. Reed made a mistake in the paperwork. I panicked because I thought Richard could use it to challenge everything.”
“Why would a paperwork error threaten our family?”
“It wouldn't have. Not if everyone had handled it properly.”
“Then why did you try to hide it?”
“Because Richard told me it could be used against us.”
She admitted that she had asked Dr. Reed to delay releasing certain documents.
She also admitted that she had tried to obtain a copy of the guardianship paperwork without telling me.
But when I asked whether she had deliberately falsified my signature, she became defensive.
“I was trying to protect myself.”
“From what?”
“From losing everything!”
I finally understood that fear had become the excuse she used for every choice.
She feared losing money, so she interfered with the trust.
She feared losing control, so she tried to undermine my ability to make decisions.
She feared Emily might reveal what she had seen, so she tied her to the bed.
Every time Victoria felt threatened, she chose to make someone else powerless.
“I loved you,” I said quietly.
She looked up.
For the first time, her expression seemed genuinely broken.
“I loved you too.”
“Then how did you become someone who could do this?”
She began to cry.
I wanted to believe her tears meant remorse.
But remorse could not erase what had happened.
I told her she would need to leave the house while the investigation continued. Daniel would arrange the appropriate legal process, and all decisions concerning the twins would be made with their safety in mind.
Victoria stood.
“You can't take my children away from me.”
“I haven't made a final decision about custody. But you will not be alone with them while these allegations are being investigated.”
She walked toward the stairs, then stopped.
“You think Emily is innocent because she cried in front of you?”
I didn't respond.
Victoria turned back.
“Ask her what happened to her first husband.”
The words chilled me.
May you like
Emily had never mentioned a husband.
And suddenly, I wondered whether the woman I had trusted with my children had been hiding a secret of her own.
