Chapter 6 - THE MAN WHO BOUGHT SILENCE
Victor walked straight toward Sophie.
“My daughter is leaving.”
“No,” Sophie said.
Victor stopped.
“She has nothing to do with this.”
“Then she can answer questions.”
“She doesn’t need your permission to leave.”
Sophie looked at Madison.
“Do you want to leave?”
Madison opened her mouth.
Victor answered for her.
“Yes.”
Madison turned to him.
“Stop doing that.”
Victor’s eyes sharpened.
“Doing what?”
“Talking like I’m ten.”
“This isn’t the time.”
“No, this is exactly the time.”
Madison pointed toward the tablet.
“Why was Evan in the archive?”
Victor’s face remained calm.
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying.”
“Madison.”
“You do this thing with your jaw when you lie.”
Carter appeared behind Victor.
Madison turned.
“And you.”
Carter stopped.
“Don’t.”
“You knew too, didn’t you?”
“Knew what?”
“Whatever this is.”
Carter looked at Victor.
That tiny glance answered everything.
Madison laughed.
A broken sound.
“You both used me.”
Victor lowered his voice.
“Go home.”
“No.”
“I said—”
“I heard you!”
The shout echoed down the hallway.
For the first time, people nearby turned openly.
Madison’s eyes filled with angry tears.
“You wanted me dating him.”
Victor said nothing.
“You invited him everywhere. You pushed him into every family event. You told me he was ‘good for my future.’”
“Madison—”
“Was I part of the deal?”
Victor’s silence was worse than any answer.
Carter stepped forward.
“You’re being emotional.”
Madison slapped him.
Hard.
Everyone froze.
Carter touched his cheek.
“Are you insane?”
“No,” she said. “I think I’m finally paying attention.”
Sophie watched quietly.
People like Madison were not born understanding consequences.
They usually learned only after consequences became personal.
Daniel’s radio crackled.
“We found something.”
They entered the archive.
A drawer had been forced open.
Files covered the floor.
A hard drive was missing.
Daniel crouched beside the cabinet.
“What was stored here?”
Sophie already knew.
“Original contracts.”
“For Blake Urban?”
“Yes.”
Victor’s expression changed.
Madison saw it.
“You know what they took.”
Victor looked at her.
“No.”
“You do.”
Sophie stepped closer.
“Why would your driver steal my acquisition records, Victor?”
“He wouldn’t.”
“He just did.”
“You have no proof he took anything.”
Sophie pointed at the broken cabinet.
“He entered a restricted floor using a copied version of your daughter’s credentials.”
Victor’s confidence slipped for half a second.
Then he recovered.
“Careful, Sophie.”
“With what?”
“Accusing people.”
“That sounded like a threat.”
“It was advice.”
Sophie smiled.
“My father used to give me the same kind.”
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
“He was smarter about listening.”
There it was.
A mistake.
Daniel noticed.
So did Sophie.
“What did you just say?”
Victor remained still.
Sophie stepped closer.
“How much did you know about my father’s bribe?”
Victor’s face changed.
Madison whispered, “What bribe?”
Carter turned away.
Sophie’s stomach dropped.
Not because Victor knew.
Because Carter knew too.
Victor calmly adjusted his jacket.
“Charles and I did business for thirty years.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“No.”
Sophie’s voice became colder.
“How much did you know?”
Victor stared at her.
Then smiled.
“Enough to keep your family name clean.”
Madison looked at her father.
“What does that mean?”
Sophie understood before he finished.
Victor had not simply known her father’s secret.
May you like
He had helped bury it.
Which meant the old crime had never belonged to Charles Reed alone.
