Chapter 6 - SERENA’S FIRST LIE
Victor entered Serena’s room at 1:17 a.m.
She was sitting on the bed drinking water.
Two guards remained outside.
She smiled when she saw him.
“I knew you’d come.”
Victor closed the door.
“Anna called you seventeen times before she died.”
Serena’s smile vanished.
“Who told you?”
“So it’s true.”
Serena looked away.
Victor stepped closer.
“Why?”
“She needed help.”
“With Daniel?”
Serena laughed nervously.
“You really think Daniel is the mastermind?”
“Answer me.”
“She discovered something.”
“What?”
Serena’s eyes shifted toward the security camera.
Victor noticed.
He unplugged it.
Serena whispered,
“Your brother wasn’t working alone.”
Victor waited.
“Who?”
“Get me out of this house first.”
“No.”
“Then we’re done.”
Victor leaned forward.
“My child is in a hospital because of you.”
Serena’s lips trembled.
“I didn’t mean to break his arm.”
Victor’s eyes turned dead cold.
Serena realized what she had admitted.
She started speaking quickly.
“He wouldn’t stop crying.”
“He’s a baby.”
“I lost my temper.”
“You drugged his milk.”
Serena froze.
Victor knew.
She closed her eyes.
“It was supposed to make him sleep.”
“Why?”
“So Lily would think something was wrong.”
Victor stared at her.
“You were setting her up.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she saw too much.”
Victor thought of Lily documenting bruises.
“Daniel told you to?”
Serena shook her head.
“No.”
“Then who?”
Before she could answer, the lights went out.
Complete darkness swallowed the room.
Serena screamed.
Victor heard glass break.
Then a gunshot.
The door flew open.
Marcus rushed inside.
Emergency lights flickered red.
Serena was on the floor.
Blood spread across the sleeve of her dress.
Victor grabbed the shooter’s shadow near the balcony door.
The figure jumped.
Marcus reached the railing.
“Gone!”
Serena gasped.
Victor knelt beside her.
“Who was it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who are you protecting?”
She stared at him.
Then whispered a name.
“Councilman Richard Hale.”
Victor recoiled.
Hale had been Anna’s godfather.
A respected city councilman.
A man who had spoken at her funeral.
Serena clutched Victor’s sleeve.
“He paid Daniel.”
“For Anna?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why would he?”
Serena’s face twisted with panic.
“Because Anna found out who really owned the Montigue debt.”
Victor frowned.
Serena’s next words changed everything.
“It wasn’t Daniel.”
She swallowed.
“It was you.”
Victor stared at her.
“That’s impossible.”
May you like
Serena started crying.
“Victor, somebody has been using your name for three years.”
