Chapter 6 - The Threat
Julian pounded on the door.
“Victoria!”
I locked it.
“Tell me.”
Victoria shook her head.
“Not with him outside.”
“What’s worse than stealing millions?”
Another knock.
“Rachel, open the damn door.”
Noah came in from the backyard.
“Mom?”
I turned sharply.
“Go upstairs.”
“But—”
“Now.”
He saw Victoria.
Then the shadow of his father through the frosted glass.
His face changed.
That made my decision easy.
I called 911.
Julian heard me through the door.
“You’re seriously calling the police?”
“You’re refusing to leave my property.”
“This concerns stolen client material.”
“Then send a lawyer.”
“I am a lawyer.”
“Not mine.”
Victoria almost smiled.
Julian’s voice dropped.
“Victoria, if you stay in there, we are finished.”
She closed her eyes.
That sentence told me more about their marriage than any wedding invitation ever could.
A police cruiser arrived seven minutes later.
Julian left before the officer reached the porch.
Not because he was afraid of the police.
Because Julian cared about appearances more than oxygen.
Victoria stayed.
Melissa came over.
So did Daniel.
We listened to the remaining files.
At 11:42 p.m., we found the recording Victoria had been afraid of.
Julian’s voice.
Another man.
Unknown.
“You’re overreacting,” Julian said.
The man answered, “An auditor is asking about Mercer.”
“So?”
“So she requested the original disbursement ledger.”
A long silence.
Then Julian:
“Make sure she doesn’t get it.”
“How?”
“I don’t care.”
“Julian—”
“You said your brother still works in IT.”
My skin prickled.
The man lowered his voice.
“You want me to delete records?”
“I want the problem handled.”
Melissa stopped the recording.
“Who’s the auditor?”
Victoria looked sick.
“Her name was Ellen Price.”
“Was?”
I asked.
Victoria covered her mouth.
“What happened to her?”
She looked at me.
“She died.”
No one spoke.
“How?”
“Car accident.”
“When?”
“Three weeks after that conversation.”
Melissa immediately raised a hand.
“We do not make assumptions.”
“I’m not,” Victoria whispered.
But her face told me she had been thinking about it for a long time.
Daniel searched public records.
Ellen Price.
Forty-six.
Internal compliance auditor.
Killed when her SUV crossed the center line during heavy rain.
The accident had been ruled accidental.
Melissa stood.
“This is beyond family court.”
She called someone.
I took Noah upstairs and sat beside him.
“Did I do something wrong by finding Dad’s recorder?”
“No.”
“Is Dad going to jail?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did he hurt somebody?”
“I didn’t lie.
“I don’t know that either.”
Noah stared at his hands.
Then he whispered:
“There’s another thing.”
My chest tightened.
“What thing?”
He walked to his closet.
From behind a stack of board games, he pulled out a small brown box.
The same kind he would later carry into Julian’s wedding.
Inside was a USB drive.
“I found this taped underneath the recorder.”
I stared at it.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because Dad called me.”
I stopped breathing.
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
“What did he say?”
May you like
Noah’s eyes filled with tears.
“He said if I loved him, I’d destroy it.”
