Chapter 9: What Victoria Said
Victoria was in the small sitting room off the east corridor — not the formal drawing room, not the master suite.
The small room, with the two armchairs and the window that looked out over the kitchen garden.
Elena had cleaned that room every Thursday for eight months.
She knew the way the afternoon light came through the glass and turned everything a particular shade of quiet gold.
Victoria was already seated when Elena came in.
Leo was on Elena's hip, awake and alert, turning his head toward the window.
Victoria looked at the baby first.
Something moved across her face — not the fury from yesterday, not the cold calculation from the hallway.
Something older than either of those things.
Victoria: Sit down.
Please.
Elena sat in the other chair.
Leo reached toward the window and made a sound.
Victoria: He likes the light.
Elena: He always has.
Victoria looked at her hands in her lap.
Victoria: I'm not going to pretend I didn't know something was wrong with what I did.
I knew Holt had a connection to your situation.
He told me it gave him an advantage.
I told myself that was his problem to manage, not mine.
I wanted the information and I didn't want to examine how I was getting it.
Elena: I know.
Victoria: I want to explain why.
Not to excuse it.
Just to explain it.
Elena waited.
Victoria: I have been losing Marcus for two years.
Not to another woman.
Just — losing him.
He works.
He travels.
He comes home and he's present for Leo and he's polite to me and there is nothing left.
And then you came.
And Leo started laughing more.
And Marcus started coming home earlier.
And I told myself it was because of the baby getting older, but I watched the way Marcus looked at this house when he walked in the door and I knew it wasn't just Leo.
Elena: Victoria—
Victoria: I'm not accusing you of anything.
I'm telling you what I felt.
I was frightened.
And when Holt came to me with the offer to investigate, I said yes because I wanted something on you.
I wanted a reason that wasn't about me.
The room was quiet.
Leo grabbed a fistful of Elena's hair and held on.
Elena: I'm not in love with your husband.
Victoria: I know that now.
I think I knew it before.
But fear isn't rational.
Elena: No.
It isn't.
Victoria looked at her directly for the first time since she'd sat down.
Victoria: The man at the gate last night.
Your ex-husband.
Elena: Yes.
Victoria: Marcus told me some of what happened.
Not everything, but enough.
I didn't understand, when I hired Holt, that he was connected to that man.
I want you to believe that.
Elena: I believe that you didn't know his name.
I believe you didn't ask the questions that would have told you.
Victoria: That's a fair way to say it.
Elena: It is what it is, Victoria.
What matters now is what happens next.
Victoria: What do you need from me?
Elena: If Daniel's attorney contacts anyone in this household — you, your staff, anyone — I need you to tell Marcus and Patricia Howe immediately.
Don't respond, don't engage.
Just report it.
Victoria: Patricia Howe.
Marcus's divorce attorney.
Elena: Yes.
Victoria absorbed that.
Victoria: He's filing for divorce.
Elena: I don't know what Marcus is doing.
That's between the two of you.
Victoria: But he called a family attorney yesterday.
Elena: Victoria.
I'm not the right person to talk to about that.
Victoria looked back at her hands.
Victoria: I know.
A long pause.
Leo had let go of Elena's hair and was now studying Victoria with the calm, unblinking focus that babies sometimes turn on people, as if they're reading something no one else can see.
Victoria reached out one finger toward him.
Tentative.
Almost asking.
Leo looked at her finger.
Then he grabbed it.
Victoria's breath caught.
Just slightly.
She didn't pull away.
Victoria: I haven't held him in three weeks.
He started crying every time I came close and I — I stopped trying.
Elena: He's been picking up on tension in the house.
Babies do that.
Victoria: Is that what it was?
Elena: Partly.
He's not afraid of you, Victoria.
He doesn't know enough to be afraid of anyone yet.
He just knows when the air feels wrong.
Victoria looked at Leo's hand wrapped around her finger.
Victoria: Does he like being read to?
Elena: He loves it.
He doesn't understand the words yet but he likes the sound of a voice that isn't rushing.
Victoria: I used to read to him when he was very small.
Before things got — before I stopped.
Elena: You could start again.
Victoria looked up.
Elena: He's not going to remember the last three weeks.
He's going to remember what happens from now on.
Victoria's eyes went bright for a moment.
She blinked it back.
Victoria: You're being kinder to me than I deserve.
Elena: Maybe.
But Leo deserves his mother.
Victoria nodded once.
She didn't speak again for a moment.
Then, quietly:
Victoria: I'll do what you asked.
If anyone contacts me, I'll go straight to Marcus.
Elena: Thank you.
She stood, settling Leo on her hip.
He kept his eyes on Victoria as they moved toward the door, his expression still that same calm, considering look.
At the doorway, Elena paused.
Elena: Victoria.
For what it's worth — Marcus comes home earlier because Leo is at the age where everything is new.
That's what you're seeing in his face when he walks in.
It's not me.
It's his son.
She left before Victoria could answer.
Behind her, in the small sitting room with the afternoon light coming through the kitchen garden window, Victoria sat alone with her hands in her lap.
After a moment, she reached into her pocket and took out her phone.
She opened the text thread she hadn't deleted and hadn't answered.
The last message from Holt, sent the night before: *She still there?
D wants confirmation.*
May you like
Victoria stared at it for a long time.
Then she forwarded it to Marcus with three words: *You should see this.*
