Chapter 6 - Victoria
By the time we reached my office, Victoria was gone.
Her desk was perfectly clean.
No coffee cup.
No purse.
No personal photographs.
Nothing.
It looked less like someone had left suddenly and more like someone had never intended to stay.
Daniel opened the drawers.
Empty.
Marcus stood near the window.
"Three years."
I didn't answer.
Victoria had known everything.
My appointments.
My attorneys.
My travel schedule.
My passwords had been protected, but she knew when I met Samuel.
When I visited the trust office.
When I argued with Marcus.
When I cried behind a closed door after discovering his affair.
She had stood six feet away from my life and quietly catalogued it.
Daniel found a small flash drive taped beneath the desk.
Samuel stopped him.
"Don't plug it into anything connected to the hotel network."
We took it to a secure computer.
There was only one file.
A video.
Victoria appeared on screen.
No makeup.
Hair pulled back.
She looked exhausted.
"Amelia, if you're watching this, then my father failed."
My heart pounded.
Marcus moved closer.
Victoria continued.
"Edwin Mercer did not steal from your father sixteen years ago."
I looked toward Samuel.
"The forty million dollars was moved by someone else."
Victoria swallowed.
"Your father discovered the truth too late."
The video flickered.
"Charles Whitmore created the accounts."
I closed my eyes.
Marcus whispered, "Jesus."
Victoria continued.
"But Charles wasn't working alone."
A photograph appeared.
My father.
Charles.
Edwin.
And Thomas Sinclair.
The timestamp was nineteen years ago.
Impossible.
Thomas had supposedly died more than twenty years before that.
Victoria's voice continued.
"Thomas Sinclair did not die in the boating accident."
My hands went cold.
"He disappeared because someone tried to kill him."
Another photograph appeared.
Thomas stood beside a young woman holding a baby.
"That baby is me."
Nobody spoke.
Victoria looked directly into the camera.
"My legal name is Victoria Sinclair Mercer."
Marcus sat down slowly.
"My father, Edwin Mercer, helped Thomas disappear."
Victoria continued.
"Richard knew."
That hurt more than everything else.
My father had known his brother lived.
He had known he had a niece.
He had hidden them from me.
"Richard created Article Nine after realizing Charles had spent years positioning himself to control the company through marriage, debt, and compromised executives."
Marcus glanced at me.
Then Victoria said something neither of us expected.
"Marcus was supposed to protect you."
I turned toward him.
His face froze.
Victoria continued.
"That was why Richard allowed him to marry you."
Silence swallowed the room.
I looked at my husband.
"What does she mean?"
Marcus said nothing.
On screen, Victoria leaned closer.
"But something changed."
Her voice softened.
"Marcus stopped reporting to Richard three months before Richard died."
I stared at him.
"Reporting?"
Marcus stood.
"Amelia."
"You were working for my father?"
"Not exactly."
"Then explain."
He looked trapped.
For once, no arrogance remained.
"Your father investigated me before we met."
"Why?"
"Because my father worked for Charles."
My stomach dropped.
Marcus's father had supposedly been an accountant who died when Marcus was seventeen.
Marcus stepped closer.
"Richard believed Charles might use me to get to you."
"Did he?"
"No."
"How do I know?"
"You don't."
At least he didn't insult me with another lie.
The video continued.
Victoria's expression changed.
"There is one more thing you need to understand."
The screen displayed a hospital record.
A newborn certificate.
Female child.
Mother: Margaret Sinclair.
Father: Thomas Sinclair.
Date of birth: thirty-eight years earlier.
Victoria.
Then another certificate appeared.
Same mother.
Same father.
A second female child.
Born seven minutes later.
Twin girls.
Victoria's final words filled the room.
"Amelia, I have a sister."
The video cut to black.
Then Daniel's phone rang.
He answered.
His face turned pale.
"We found Victoria."
I stood.
"Where?"
"Room 1704."
May you like
He swallowed.
"She's unconscious."
