Chapter 3 - ELEVEN DAYS BEFORE THE WEDDING
Victoria finally sat down.
Not because anyone asked her to.
Because her legs could no longer support her.
Daniel stood across from her.
“You have one chance.”
Victoria looked up.
“One chance for what?”
“To tell me the truth.”
Tears appeared.
This time they were real.
“I wanted to know what I was marrying into.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“You were marrying me.”
“You know what I mean.”
“No.”
“I don’t.”
Victoria wiped her face.
“My mother told me wealthy families hide things before marriages.”
Clara watched carefully.
“Your mother?”
Victoria immediately realized her mistake.
“I was speaking generally.”
“No, you weren’t.”
Clara leaned against the desk.
“Your mother told you something.”
Victoria looked away.
Daniel reached for her handbag.
She grabbed it.
He pulled harder.
The bag opened.
Its contents spilled across the floor.
Lipstick.
Keys.
Credit cards.
A phone.
A small bottle of perfume.
The black folder.
And a folded sheet of paper.
Clara picked it up.
It was a list.
Daniel.
Clara.
Vance Holdings.
Vance Family Trust.
Marriage date.
Trust amendment.
Voting rights.
Beneficiary succession.
Daniel stared at the final line.
Remove Clara before marriage.
His face changed.
Victoria lunged for the paper.
Clara pulled it away.
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know!”
“Your handwriting is on it.”
“I write things down when people talk.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Who was talking?”
Victoria remained silent.
Daniel grabbed his phone.
“The wedding is canceled.”
Her head snapped upward.
“No!”
“It’s over.”
“You can’t do that!”
“I just did.”
Victoria stood.
“You promised me!”
“I promised to marry the woman I thought you were.”
Her expression hardened.
“And what happens when everyone finds out?”
Daniel stared at her.
“Finds out what?”
Victoria realized she had said too much again.
Clara stepped forward.
“What exactly is everyone supposed to find out, Victoria?”
Victoria’s eyes moved between them.
Then her phone rang on the floor.
Nobody moved.
It rang again.
Clara looked at the screen.
MOM.
Victoria rushed for it.
Clara reached it first.
“Give me my phone.”
Clara answered.
“Hello?”
There was silence.
Then a woman’s voice spoke.
“Victoria?”
Clara recognized the voice.
Her blood ran cold.
It was not Victoria’s mother.
She had heard that voice many times before.
At board meetings.
At family dinners.
At her father’s funeral.
Clara slowly looked at Daniel.
The caller spoke again.
“Victoria, did you get the amendment?”
Clara’s fingers tightened around the phone.
Then she answered.
“No, Aunt Evelyn.”
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Clara continued.
“But I would love to hear why you wanted it.”
The call ended.
Daniel looked as though someone had punched him.
Their father’s younger sister, Evelyn Vance, had spent three years telling everyone she wanted nothing to do with the family business.
Apparently, she had been lying.
And eleven days before Daniel’s wedding, she had sent his fiancée into the family study to steal documents.
Clara placed the phone on the desk.
“The wedding was never the real target.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Then what was?”
May you like
Clara unfolded the paper again.
“The trust.”
