Chapter 10 - Victoria’s Secret
I showed Victoria the message.
She went pale.
“What does he mean?”
She didn’t answer.
“Victoria.”
“I made a mistake.”
“That covers a lot of ground.”
She looked toward Melissa.
“Do I need my attorney?”
Melissa replied, “Probably.”
That was not comforting.
Victoria sat down.
“During the divorce, Julian asked me to notarize several documents.”
My stomach tightened.
“What documents?”
“I didn’t read all of them.”
“You notarized things without reading them?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I trusted him.”
I laughed once.
Hard.
“Welcome to the club.”
Her eyes filled.
“One document was yours.”
Silence.
“The affidavit?”
“I think so.”
I stood.
“You notarized my forged signature?”
“I didn’t know it was forged.”
“You didn’t watch me sign it.”
“No.”
“Then you knew.”
She started crying.
I didn’t care.
Not yet.
“You helped him frame me.”
“I helped him cut corners. I didn’t understand how far he would take it.”
“That distinction matters to you because?”
“Because I’m trying to fix it.”
“You’re trying to save yourself.”
“Yes.”
The honesty stopped me.
Victoria wiped her face.
“Yes, Rachel. I am trying to save myself. And I’m trying to stop him.”
She opened her phone.
“There’s another reason he wants the USB.”
She showed us photographs.
Julian meeting Greg Holt in a parking garage.
Greg handing Julian an envelope.
Then another photo.
A handwritten ledger.
Payments.
Dates.
Initials.
One set repeated.
EP.
Ellen Price.
Beside one payment was a note:
VEHICLE SERVICE.
My stomach twisted.
“What does that mean?”
Victoria shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Investigators already had copies.
Police reopened questions surrounding Ellen’s accident.
But there was no proof Julian caused it.
Not yet.
The wedding remained scheduled.
That confused me more every day.
Then Melissa explained.
“Victoria’s cooperation is secret. If she cancels abruptly, Julian knows something changed.”
“So she has to marry him?”
“No.”
“What happens?”
“That’s up to her.”
Three days before the ceremony, Julian appeared on television at a charity event.
Smiling.
Confident.
He talked about integrity.
I almost threw the remote.
Noah watched silently.
Then he went upstairs.
Later I found him sitting on his bed with the small brown box.
“What are you doing?”
He put the recorder inside.
“I want to give it back.”
“Noah.”
“At the wedding.”
“No.”
“He keeps saying we stole it.”
“You don’t owe him anything.”
“I know.”
He looked up.
“But I want him to open it.”
“Why?”
“Because every time Dad does something bad, he says somebody else caused it.”
I sat beside him.
Noah’s voice stayed quiet.
“If he opens it himself, he can’t say we did it to him.”
That was painfully simple.
And painfully smart.
I kissed his forehead.
“We’ll talk to Melissa.”
The next morning, investigators approved something unexpected.
We could attend.
The original recorder would stay in evidence.
Noah could carry the empty device shell that had already been copied and cleared.
The USB would be a duplicate containing only legally releasable files.
Julian wouldn’t know that.
Neither would anyone else in the ballroom.
Then Victoria called me.
Her voice shook.
“Rachel.”
“What?”
“I found out what Julian plans to do after the wedding.”
“What?”
“He bought two tickets.”
“To where?”
“Grand Cayman.”
“When?”
“Tomorrow night.”
I looked at Melissa.
May you like
Victoria finished:
“He’s planning to run.”
