Chapter 2 - WHAT THE CAMERA SAW
“What are you talking about?”
Victoria’s answer came too quickly.
Clara noticed.
So did Daniel.
“The east wing has been locked since Dad died,” Daniel said.
“I know.”
Victoria forced a nervous laugh.
“That’s why I would never go there.”
Clara stepped around the broken flowerpot.
“You were standing outside the east-wing study twenty minutes ago.”
“No, I wasn’t.”
“I saw you.”
“You’re lying.”
Clara’s expression remained calm.
“That seems to be your favorite defense.”
Victoria looked at Daniel.
“She hates me.”
“Your sister has hated me since the day we met.”
Daniel frowned.
“You told me you had barely spoken to Clara.”
Victoria hesitated.
“I meant…”
Clara interrupted.
“She didn’t know I was Clara.”
Silence fell.
Daniel looked between them.
Clara explained.
“I came home early this morning.”
“I didn’t tell anyone except Mrs. Alvarez.”
“Our housekeeping supervisor had three employees call in sick because of the flu.”
“I offered to help.”
Daniel almost smiled.
That sounded exactly like his sister.
Clara had spent fifteen years controlling a family fortune worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Yet she was still the woman who helped kitchen employees carry boxes when a delivery truck arrived late.
Victoria stared at her.
“You wore that uniform deliberately.”
“Yes.”
“You were testing me!”
“No.”
Clara took another step toward her.
“But you certainly tested yourself.”
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
“Victoria, why were you near the east wing?”
“I wasn’t.”
Clara pointed toward the security camera.
“Then we should watch the recording.”
Victoria’s face changed.
Only slightly.
But Clara saw it.
Fear.
Real fear.
Daniel saw it too.
“Come with me.”
He walked toward the security room.
Victoria remained where she was.
Daniel stopped.
“Victoria.”
“I’m not going anywhere until she apologizes.”
Daniel stared at her.
“For what?”
Victoria opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
Ten minutes later, they stood inside the mansion’s security room.
Clara entered the access code.
Fourteen camera feeds appeared across the monitors.
She selected the east hallway.
The footage began.
11:42 a.m.
Victoria appeared.
She looked over her shoulder.
Then she walked toward the locked study.
Daniel leaned closer.
Victoria’s breathing became shallow.
On-screen, Victoria removed something from her handbag.
A key.
Daniel stared at her.
“Where did you get that?”
“I…”
The video continued.
Victoria inserted the key.
The lock opened.
Clara’s expression hardened.
Only three keys to that study existed.
Clara had one.
Daniel had another.
Their late father’s key had been sealed inside a private safe after his death.
Victoria entered the room.
Twenty-three minutes later, she came out carrying a thin black folder.
Daniel paused the footage.
“What was in that folder?”
Victoria shook her head.
“Nothing.”
Clara looked at her brother.
“That study contains the original Vance Trust documents.”
Daniel’s face went pale.
Victoria suddenly headed for the door.
Clara stepped in front of her.
“Move.”
“No.”
“Daniel!”
He did not help her.
Instead, Daniel looked at the woman he had intended to marry.
“Open your handbag.”
Victoria clutched it against her body.
“No.”
“Open it.”
“You don’t have the right.”
Daniel’s voice dropped.
“This is my house.”
Victoria backed toward the wall.
Then Clara noticed something.
A corner of black paper protruded from Victoria’s handbag.
The missing folder.
Clara reached toward it.
Victoria jerked backward.
And something else fell from the bag.
A small silver key.
Daniel recognized it immediately.
His father’s key.
The key that should have been locked inside a safe for the past three years.
Daniel stared at Victoria.
“How did you get that?”
Victoria said nothing.
Clara picked it up.
Then she noticed tiny engraved letters on the back.
E.V.
Her father’s initials.
Clara looked at Daniel.
“This isn’t just about Victoria.”
Daniel understood immediately.
May you like
Someone had opened their father’s safe.
And whoever had done it had access to the most protected parts of the Vance family empire.
