Chapter 9 - THE DAUGHTER HE WANTED
The vault lockdown lasted eleven minutes.
By the time the doors reopened, Alexander and Rose were gone.
The black ledger had disappeared with them.
But the trust document remained.
Evelyn held it tightly.
Samuel stood against the wall.
His entire identity had collapsed in less than twenty-four hours.
Victoria looked at him.
“Welcome to the club.”
Samuel almost laughed.
Almost.
Evelyn turned toward the federal agents.
“Find Rose.”
“We’re working on it.”
“Alexander has her.”
“We don’t know that.”
“I do.”
Samuel shook his head.
“No.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“What?”
“He didn’t take her.”
“She went willingly.”
Evelyn stared.
Samuel pointed toward the security camera.
“Rose knew exactly where the blind spot was.”
“She knew the lockdown procedure.”
“She took the ledger.”
Victoria frowned.
“So she’s working with him?”
Samuel’s expression hardened.
“I don’t know.”
Evelyn looked at the trust.
“We still have this.”
Samuel shook his head.
“Alexander doesn’t care about the paper.”
“Then why did he want the box?”
“The ledger.”
Evelyn understood.
Names.
Accounts.
Officials.
Judges.
Executives.
People Alexander controlled.
The ledger wasn’t just evidence.
It was leverage.
Victoria looked at Evelyn.
“What now?”
Evelyn folded the trust document.
“We go back to the hotel.”
“Why?”
“Because your father is still there.”
Victoria’s expression hardened.
“Charles.”
“Yes.”
“He knows Alexander better than anyone.”
At 9:30 a.m., they returned to the Grand Meridian.
Charles was waiting in a private conference room with his attorney.
Diane sat across from him.
They were no longer speaking.
Victoria entered first.
Charles stood.
“Thank God.”
She ignored him.
Evelyn entered behind her.
Charles’s relief vanished.
“You.”
Evelyn sat.
“We need Alexander.”
Charles laughed.
“You think I know where he is?”
“Yes.”
“You overestimate me.”
“No.”
Evelyn placed Margaret’s trust document on the table.
Charles stared at it.
“You underestimate how frightened you are of him.”
Diane looked at the document.
“He found the box?”
“Yes.”
Diane closed her eyes.
Charles whispered,
“Then we’re finished.”
Victoria stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
Charles looked at her.
“The ledger contains everyone.”
“Everyone who helped.”
“Everyone who took money.”
“Everyone who destroyed records.”
“Everyone who signed false deeds.”
Evelyn leaned forward.
“Including you.”
“Yes.”
The admission surprised everyone.
Charles laughed bitterly.
“What do I have left to lie about?”
Victoria looked at him.
“A lot.”
Charles flinched.
She continued.
“Start with me.”
He looked at her.
“Why did you take me?”
Charles was silent.
Victoria’s eyes filled.
“Was it money?”
“No.”
“Alexander?”
“Partly.”
“Diane?”
“Partly.”
“Then why?”
Charles looked at Evelyn.
Then Victoria.
“Because I loved Margaret.”
Evelyn stared.
Diane laughed bitterly.
“There it is.”
Charles ignored her.
“I loved your mother.”
“She chose Alexander.”
“I knew what he was.”
“I tried to warn her.”
“She didn’t listen.”
Evelyn’s voice hardened.
“So you stole her child?”
Charles looked ashamed.
“I thought I was saving one.”
Victoria whispered,
“Me.”
Charles nodded.
“At first.”
“At first?”
Charles looked at her.
“Then you became my daughter.”
Victoria’s face crumpled for half a second.
She recovered.
“You don’t get to make that sound beautiful.”
“I know.”
“You stole me.”
“Yes.”
“You lied every birthday.”
“Yes.”
“You let me treat people like they were beneath me.”
Charles looked away.
Victoria continued.
“Because that’s how you treated everyone.”
He said nothing.
Evelyn leaned forward.
“Where is Alexander?”
Charles looked at her.
“There’s one place.”
“Where?”
“The original Vale estate.”
Diane’s face changed.
“No.”
Charles looked at her.
“He’ll go there.”
Diane stood.
“We are not going there.”
Victoria stared.
“Why?”
Diane looked at Evelyn.
“Because that house is where Margaret discovered the truth.”
“What truth?”
Diane hesitated.
Charles answered.
“That Alexander had been planning for years to replace Margaret.”
Evelyn frowned.
“Replace her how?”
Charles looked at the trust document.
“Margaret controlled the trust.”
“Alexander couldn’t remove her without triggering an investigation.”
“So he needed her declared incompetent.”
Diane continued.
“He had doctors.”
“Lawyers.”
“Witnesses.”
“He was building a case that she was mentally unstable.”
Evelyn felt sick.
Charles nodded.
“Then she became pregnant.”
Victoria whispered,
“And we ruined his plan.”
“No.”
Charles looked at her.
“You improved it.”
Both women stared.
“If he controlled the children…”
“…he controlled Margaret.”
Evelyn’s voice turned cold.
“So this was never about being our father.”
“No.”
Charles looked ashamed.
“It was about ownership.”
Victoria closed her eyes.
The same word she had used in the ballroom.
I own people like you.
She looked at Evelyn.
“I sound like him.”
Evelyn didn’t soften the truth.
“Yes.”
Victoria nodded.
“I don’t want to.”
It was quiet.
But sincere.
Charles gave them the estate address.
Before they left, Diane grabbed Evelyn’s arm.
“Don’t go inside the west wing.”
Evelyn looked at her.
“Why?”
Diane’s face went pale.
“Because that’s where Margaret kept the room.”
“What room?”
Diane released her.
“The nursery.”
Victoria frowned.
“We were newborns.”
Diane shook her head.
“Not that nursery.”
Evelyn stared.
Diane whispered,
“The one she prepared for the children she thought she would have after you.”
Evelyn’s blood ran cold.
“What happened to them?”
Diane looked at Charles.
May you like
He lowered his eyes.
And neither answered.
