Chapter 6: What Victoria Knew
The police took a statement, photographed the gate camera footage, and left just after eleven.
Marcus walked them out.
Elena settled Leo in the east wing nursery — a room she had never been inside before, pale blue walls and a white crib that looked like it had never been used.
She was still sitting in the chair beside the crib when Marcus knocked on the open door.
Marcus: He's asleep?
Elena: Finally.
Marcus came in and leaned against the doorframe.
He looked tired for the first time all evening.
Marcus: I spoke with Garrett.
The camera at the east service entrance recorded a vehicle parked on the access road between nine and ten this morning.
Before Daniel arrived at the gate tonight.
Someone was watching the property earlier in the day.
Elena: He was confirming I was still here before he came.
Marcus: That's what Garrett thinks.
Elena: He's thorough.
Marcus: So am I.
He was quiet for a moment.
Marcus: I need to talk to Victoria tonight.
I'd rather do it now than let her sleep on whatever she's planning.
Elena: What do you think she's planning?
Marcus: I don't know.
That's the problem.
He pushed off the doorframe.
Marcus: Lock this door after I leave.
Garrett is posted at the end of the hall.
He left.
Elena turned the lock.
She sat back down beside Leo and listened to the house settle around her.
Down the corridor, a door opened and closed.
She could hear voices — not words, just the shape of them.
Marcus's voice, low and direct.
Victoria's voice, higher, faster.
Then a long silence.
Then Marcus again.
Then nothing.
Twenty minutes later, a knock at Elena's door.
Marcus: It's me.
She opened it.
His expression was contained, but his eyes were working.
Marcus: She knew.
Elena: About Daniel?
Marcus: Not his name.
But she knew the investigator had a connection to your past.
Holt told her, when she hired him, that he had a prior relationship with a party involved in your case.
He told her it gave him better access to information.
She thought that was an advantage.
Elena: She didn't ask what the relationship was.
Marcus: She said she didn't want to know.
She said she just wanted the information.
Elena: And you believe her?
Marcus: I believe she told herself that was acceptable.
I believe she convinced herself that not asking was the same as not knowing.
Victoria is very skilled at that.
Elena: But she did know something was wrong with it.
Marcus: Yes.
She did.
He leaned against the wall beside the door.
Marcus: She also told me something else.
When Holt delivered the report, he included a note.
Handwritten.
It said that if she wanted to act on the information quickly, he could arrange for the relevant party to be notified at the same time she confronted you.
So that the pressure would come from two directions at once.
Elena: He was coordinating with Daniel.
He told her he could arrange a simultaneous confrontation and she—
Marcus: She said she didn't respond to the note.
She said she threw it away.
Elena: But she didn't tell you about it until tonight.
Marcus: No.
She didn't.
The silence between them was heavy.
Elena: Marcus.
I'm not asking you to choose between me and your wife.
That's not what this is.
But you need to understand what she agreed to, even by silence.
Daniel's strategy only works if the person on the inside doesn't warn the target.
Victoria didn't warn me.
She went ahead with the confrontation exactly as Holt suggested.
The only thing she didn't do was respond to the note in writing.
Marcus: I know.
Elena: What are you going to do?
Marcus: Tonight, nothing.
Tomorrow, I'm calling Patricia Howe.
And I'm calling a second attorney.
A family attorney.
Elena understood what that meant.
She didn't say anything.
Marcus: Is there anyone I should contact for you?
Family?
Someone who should know where you are?
Elena: My sister.
Her name is Rosa.
I haven't spoken to her in two years because I was afraid Daniel was still monitoring her.
But if he already knows where I am, the reason for staying away from her is gone.
Marcus: I'll have Garrett help you make contact through a secure line tomorrow.
In case Holt is still watching her accounts.
Elena: Thank you.
Marcus: Get some sleep.
Both of you.
He looked once at Leo through the open nursery door.
Then he walked back down the corridor.
Elena closed the door and locked it again.
She sat down on the edge of the bed across from the crib.
She put her face in her hands — not crying, just holding the weight of the day for a moment with no one watching.
Then Leo made a small sound in his sleep.
Just a breath, really.
But she lifted her head.
She looked at him for a long time.
Then she lay down on top of the covers, still dressed, and stared at the ceiling until her eyes finally closed.
In the morning, everything would begin in earnest.
But tonight, for the first time in three months, the door was locked and someone else was standing guard.
She slept.
Down the hall, in the master suite, Victoria sat at her vanity with the lights on and her phone in her hand.
The screen showed a text thread.
The last message had been sent at 10:47 p.m.
— forty minutes ago.
May you like
She hadn't replied.
But she hadn't deleted it either.
