Chapter 7: The Camera in the Kitchen
I brought Grace and Lily back to the estate because Daniel said the kitchen had to remain untouched.
Mrs.
Alvarez, my longtime house manager, met us inside with a small black device in her hand.
“I installed this after jewelry began disappearing,” she said.
“A camera?” Grace asked.
“It faces the pantry, but the reflection in the refrigerator shows the whole kitchen.”
I stared at the device.
“Did it record Victoria?”
“Every word.”
Daniel connected the memory card to his laptop.
On-screen, Victoria entered the kitchen twenty minutes before Grace.
She opened the safe with my code, removed a folder, and called someone.
“The settlement is inside,” she said in the recording.
“Once I destroy the father’s letter, the child has nothing.”
Grace gripped the back of a chair.
The video continued.
Grace entered, saw the hockey stick, and asked Victoria to put it down.
Victoria accused her of returning for the trust.
Then Lily ran in.
Mrs.
Alvarez pressed her lips together.
“I should have come back sooner.”
“You came back now,” Grace said.
“That matters.”
The doorbell rang.
Victoria walked in before I could reach it.
“This is still my home,” she said.
“No,” I replied.
“It never was.”
She saw Daniel’s laptop and stopped.
“What are you watching?”
Mrs.
Alvarez stepped in front of the screen.
“The truth.”
Victoria’s expression hardened.
“How much do you want?”
Mrs.
Alvarez did not move.
“For what?”
“Your retirement.
Your grandson’s tuition.
Name a number and give me the card.”
“You accused Grace of st*aling while you were emptying Nathan’s safe.”
“I asked for a number.”
“And I gave you an answer.”
Victoria turned to me.
“You cannot submit a secret recording.”
“The camera was installed by the homeowner’s employee after repeated theft,” Daniel said.
“It is lawful.”
Victoria snatched a heavy paperweight and swung it toward the laptop.
I caught her wrist before it came down.
“Let go of me.”
“That was your last chance to walk away.”
She lowered her voice.
“If you release that recording, I’ll release your medical files.
Everyone will know you signed contracts while suffering memory loss.
The company will collapse.”
“You’re threatening thousands of employees to save yourself.”
“I’m offering you a deal.
Give up Grace and the trust, and I’ll restore you as chief executive.”
Grace’s face went pale.
“Nathan, the employees didn’t cause this.”
Victoria smiled.
“Listen to your wife.
She’s ready to disappear again.”
“No,” I said.
“This time, I disappear from the company before I abandon my family.”
Red and blue lights reflected across the windows.
Victoria looked toward Daniel.
“What did you do?”
“I sent the recording to Detective Shaw before you arrived.”
Two officers entered the foyer.
Victoria backed toward the stairs.
“Nathan, tell them this is a family dispute.”
“You forged a medical test, stole trust records, tried to destroy evidence, and att@cked Grace.”
“I protected you!”
“You protected the life you wanted to purchase with Lily’s money.”
An officer secured Victoria’s wrists.
She twisted toward Reid, who had entered behind Detective Shaw.
“You gave them the audio?”
“Yes.”
“I paid your rent for three years.”
“And reminded me every month that I owed you my silence.”
Detective Shaw took the memory card from Daniel.
“We also verified the signature on the trust,” she said.
“There was no forgery.”
“Then my father created it,” I replied.
“No, Mr.
Vale.”
May you like
She opened a certified file.
“You signed it yourself, two weeks before your accident—and we found the video of you doing it.”
