Chương 7
For the first time that night, genuine confusion crossed his face.
“Yes, you did.”
“No.”
“You signed it in Mara’s office.”
“I signed revised corporate succession documents.”
Julian stared at her.
Victoria felt the room change again.
“Mara never gave me a family trust amendment.”
Julian whispered, “Then what did she file?”
Before Victoria could answer, Chloe’s cracked phone rang in her hand.
She looked at the screen.
“It’s the hospital.”
She answered.
“Hello?”
Her expression shifted almost immediately.
“Yes, she’s here.”
She held the phone toward Victoria.
“Your doctor wants to talk to you.”
Victoria took it.
“This is Victoria.”
A familiar voice asked about contraction frequency, bleeding, fluid, fetal movement, and pain.
Victoria answered as precisely as she could.
When she finished, Dr. Shah said, “I want you in labor and delivery now.”
Victoria looked toward Julian.
“Okay.”
“Do not drive yourself.”
“I won’t.”
“And Victoria?”
“Yes?”
“Given what the answering service told me, tell the officers you need a secure admission.”
Victoria glanced at Officer Reynolds.
She ended the call.
Chloe took the phone back.
For a moment neither woman spoke.
Then Chloe said, “I’ll go with you.”
Julian turned.
“No.”
Chloe looked at him.
“You don’t get a vote.”
“You should stay here.”
“Why?”
“Because Mom is at the hospital.”
“That is another reason not to leave Victoria alone.”
Julian’s face tightened.
Victoria stood carefully.
The contraction had eased, but pressure remained low in her pelvis.
Officer Reynolds offered an arm.
She accepted it.
Julian stepped toward them.
“Victoria, please.”
She looked at him.
He seemed desperate now, but she no longer trusted desperation as evidence of love.
“What?”
“We need to talk before you make decisions.”
Victoria almost asked which decisions.
Then she understood.
Company.
Estate.
Police.
Marriage.
Money.
Perhaps nineteen million dollars that had already swallowed one girl decades ago and might now be reaching for another child.
“No,” Victoria said.
Julian lowered his voice.
“You don’t understand what’s happening.”
“That has been your favorite advantage.”
He stared at her.
Chloe stepped beside Victoria.
Julian looked at his sister.
“You don’t know her.”
Chloe gave him a tired smile.
“I know she warned me about the stairs.”
Julian’s jaw shifted.
“And you think that makes her safe?”
Victoria felt something cold settle beneath her ribs.
“What are you implying?”
Julian looked away.
“Nothing.”
Chloe laughed bitterly.
“Family motto.”
Officer Reynolds stepped between them.
“That’s enough.”
He guided Victoria toward the side entrance where another medic waited.
Chloe followed.
At the doorway, Victoria looked back once.
Julian stood alone beneath the kitchen lights.
Behind him, the basement door remained open.
One of the officers had placed evidence tape across the entrance.
Julian was staring at it.
Then Victoria noticed something she had missed before.
On the inside edge of the basement door, just above the latch, someone had scratched three small letters into the painted wood.
C.
H.
L.
Victoria stopped.
Officer Reynolds followed her gaze.
“What is it?”
She pointed.
Julian looked up.
The color vanished from his face.
Chloe moved closer to the door.
Her breathing stopped.
“What does that say?”
Nobody answered.
Chloe whispered the letters aloud.
“C.H.L.”
Julian said, “Don’t.”
She turned toward him.
“What does the L stand for?”
Julian’s silence lasted one second too long.
Chloe’s eyes filled with tears.
“Camille Hart Vance wasn’t her full name, was it?”
Julian gripped the counter.
“No.”
“What was it?”
The officer nearest the basement reached slowly for his notebook.
Julian looked at Chloe as if the answer might destroy something he had spent half his life protecting.
Then he said, “Camille Hart Lawson.”
Victoria’s skin prickled.
Chloe shook her head.
“Lawson?”
Julian nodded.
Victoria knew that name.
Everyone at Bellweather knew that name.
Mara Klein’s law firm had been founded decades earlier by Harold Lawson.
The same Harold Lawson whose only daughter, Mara’s mother, had died young.
Victoria looked toward Julian.
“No.”
His eyes met hers.
“Yes.”
Chloe frowned.
“What?”
Victoria’s mouth had gone dry.
“Mara’s maiden name is Lawson.”
Julian lowered his gaze.
Chloe turned slowly toward Victoria.
The ambulance crew waited outside.
The officers stopped moving.
And Victoria finally understood why Mara had replied so quickly to the insurance documents, why she had told Victoria not to sign anything, and why Julian had been terrified of an amendment Victoria had never seen.
Mara Klein was not merely Victoria’s attorney.
She was Camille Hart Lawson’s aunt.
Chloe stared at Victoria for several seconds, trying to decide whether she had misunderstood the name.
“Mara?”
Victoria nodded.
“My attorney.”
Julian closed his eyes.
Chloe turned toward him.
“You knew.”
His silence confirmed it before his mouth did.
“How long?”
“Years.”
“How many years?”
“Chloe.”
“How many?”
Julian looked toward the officers again, but there was nowhere left to hide inside procedure.
“Since Dad died.”
Chloe’s face twisted.
“That was twelve years ago.”
“Yes.”
“You knew for twelve years that the missing girl was related to Victoria’s lawyer?”
“I knew Mara’s mother was Leah Hart’s sister.”
Chloe took a step toward him.
“So Mara is Camille’s cousin?”
“Aunt by family usage, technically cousin.”
Chloe laughed in disbelief.
“Now you care about technical accuracy.”
Julian looked away.
Victoria gripped the edge of the doorway as another contraction gathered beneath her ribs.
Officer Reynolds noticed immediately.
“We’re going.”
Victoria nodded.
The medic guided her toward the waiting stretcher, but she stopped before sitting.
“Did Mara know?”
Julian’s eyes moved back to her.
“I don’t know.”
“That means yes.”
“It means I don’t know.”
“You knew enough to be afraid of something she filed.”
Julian’s jaw tightened.
Victoria lowered herself carefully onto the stretcher.
The night air struck her face, warm and damp, carrying the smell of cut grass and ambulance exhaust.
Behind the stone walls of the estate, the gated community remained almost perfectly quiet.
Somewhere across the street, a sprinkler ticked methodically over a dark lawn.
May you like
The ordinary sound made the scene feel indecent.
Chloe climbed into the ambulance after Victoria without asking anyone’s permission.
