Chapter 7: The Wife in the Glass Room
Victoria agreed to speak with Nathan only after her lawyer insisted he could not record the conversation.
Detective Morales allowed Nathan into the interview area but remained behind the observation glass.
Victoria sat at a metal table wearing the same cream silk blouse she had worn in the basement. Her hair had been brushed. Her posture was perfect.
Even in custody, she looked prepared for a magazine cover.
Nathan took the chair across from her.
Victoria smiled faintly.
“You look terrible.”
He placed a copy of the handwritten plan on the table.
Her smile faded.
“Where did you find that?”
“Behind your mirror.”
She looked toward the observation window.
“That was illegally obtained.”
“The police had a warrant.”
Victoria leaned back.
“So now you believe I married you for revenge?”
“Did you?”
“At first?”
Nathan felt his chest tighten.
Victoria continued calmly.
“At first, you were an assignment.”
The words cut deeper because she delivered them without emotion.
“My mother believed your father destroyed our family. She wanted access to Harrington money and influence. You were lonely, ambitious and desperate to be forgiven for your brother’s death.”
“My brother died because your mother forced us off the road.”
“You can’t prove she was driving.”
“The flash drive proves motive.”
“Motive isn’t murder.”
Nathan studied her.
“Did you ever love me?”
Victoria’s eyes softened.
For one dangerous moment, she looked like the woman he remembered.
“I tried.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“You gave me everything except your presence.”
“So you hurt our children?”
“They were uncontrollable.”
“They were children.”
“They were weaknesses.”
Nathan went still.
Victoria leaned forward.
“Do you know what people said after Oliver cried during that television interview? They said I couldn’t manage my own son. The foundation lost two donors that week.”
“You locked him in a freezing basement over donors?”
“I protected what we built.”
Nathan shook his head.
“There is no ‘we’ anymore.”
Victoria’s expression hardened.
“You think you can raise them alone? You don’t even know Emma hates strawberries. You don’t know Noah wakes up during thunderstorms. You don’t know Oliver pretends he isn’t afraid of elevators.”
Nathan absorbed every accusation.
Some were true.
He had missed too much.
But his guilt no longer belonged to Victoria.
“You’re right,” he said.
She blinked.
“I don’t know enough about them. But I’m going to learn.”
Victoria’s fingers tightened on the table.
“And what happens to me?”
“You face the consequences.”
Her voice dropped.
“If I go down, your company goes with me.”
“I don’t care.”
“You will.”
“I watched our son protect his sister from you. There is no stock price, foundation or company more important than what happened in that room.”
Victoria laughed once.
“You always cared about the empire.”
“I thought the empire was my legacy.”
Nathan stood.
“It isn’t.”
She looked up at him.
“What is?”
“My children remembering that when I finally saw the truth, I chose them.”
He turned toward the door.
Victoria’s final words followed him.
“My mother still has copies of everything.”
Nathan stopped.
May you like
Victoria smiled.
“And she is not in police custody.”
