Chapter 9 - THE RECORDING
Victoria lunged toward the stuffed rabbit.
Beatrice blocked her.
“Don’t.”
“Move.”
“No.”
Victoria shoved her.
Beatrice stumbled backward into the dresser.
Lily screamed.
“Stop!”
Victoria froze.
For half a second, guilt flickered across her face.
Then rage replaced it.
“You did this.”
Beatrice looked at her.
“What?”
“You turned her against me.”
“She’s afraid of you.”
“She was supposed to love me.”
The words slipped out before Victoria could stop them.
Beatrice stared.
Victoria’s breathing became fast.
“I could have given her everything.”
“She already has everything.”
“Not a mother.”
Beatrice’s expression softened despite herself.
“Then you should have tried being kind.”
Victoria slapped her.
Hard.
Beatrice’s head snapped sideways.
Lily screamed again.
The bedroom door burst open.
Two guards entered.
Mateo had instructed them to respond to Lily’s voice as an emergency.
Victoria stepped back.
“She attacked me.”
Nobody moved toward Beatrice.
The guard looked at the blinking camera.
Then at Victoria.
“Ma’am, please step into the hall.”
“You work for Leo.”
“Yes.”
“Then you work for me.”
“No, ma’am.”
Victoria stared at him.
He repeated calmly.
“Hallway.”
Twenty minutes later, Leo returned.
He watched the recording once.
Then again.
He did not speak.
Beatrice sat across the room holding an ice pack against her cheek.
Lily was beside her.
When the recording reached Victoria saying, You should have left when my father warned you, Leo paused it.
“Where is she?”
Mateo answered.
“Guest wing.”
“Why?”
“You told me not to make moves without proof.”
Leo looked at him.
“I have proof.”
“You have proof of intimidation and an assault.”
Mateo pointed at the screen.
“You do not yet have proof she helped kill Sofia.”
Leo’s jaw tightened.
Beatrice spoke.
“He’s right.”
Both men looked at her.
Leo frowned.
“You are defending Victoria?”
“I am defending the truth.”
She lowered the ice pack.
“If you move too early, her father buries everything.”
Mateo nodded.
Leo hated that they agreed.
He inserted Sofia’s flash drive into an isolated laptop.
A password screen appeared.
Leo tried Sofia’s birthday.
Wrong.
Lily’s birthday.
Wrong.
Their wedding date.
Wrong.
Mateo asked, “What would she expect only you to know?”
Leo stared at the screen.
Beatrice watched his face.
“Something ordinary.”
“What?”
“Sofia knew everyone around you would guess dates.”
Leo looked at her.
“So?”
“What was something stupid between you?”
He frowned.
“Stupid?”
“A joke.”
“A nickname.”
“A place nobody cared about except the two of you.”
Leo stared at the keyboard.
Then he slowly typed.
BURNEDLASAGNA
Mateo blinked.
“Seriously?”
“Sofia tried to cook on our third date.”
Beatrice smiled.
“How bad?”
“The smoke alarm evacuated six apartments.”
The drive opened.
Folders appeared.
Hundreds of documents.
Photographs.
Audio files.
A video.
Leo clicked it.
Sofia appeared on screen.
Alive.
Her dark hair tied back.
She looked tired.
Scared.
But determined.
Leo stopped breathing.
“If you’re watching this, something happened to me.”
His hand gripped the desk.
Lily moved closer.
Sofia continued.
“Leo, I’m sorry I kept this from you.”
“I thought I was protecting you and Lily.”
“I may have done the opposite.”
She explained Arthur Kensington’s network.
Bribed officials.
Private intimidation.
Blackmail.
Men whose careers were protected as long as they protected Arthur.
Then she said something none of them expected.
“Victoria came to me first.”
Leo frowned.
“She wanted out from under her father.”
Mateo looked at Leo.
Sofia continued.
“She gave me documents.”
“She helped Rebecca escape.”
Beatrice stared at the screen.
Victoria had once tried to help?
Then Sofia’s expression darkened.
“But three weeks ago, Victoria changed.”
“She wants the evidence back.”
“She says Arthur will destroy all of us.”
“I don’t know whether she’s afraid of him or working with him.”
Sofia leaned closer.
“If anything happens, do not assume Victoria acted alone.”
The screen flickered.
“One more thing.”
Sofia swallowed.
“Dr. Price knows the truth about Lily.”
Leo froze.
“What truth?”
The video ended.
A second later, Mateo’s phone rang.
He answered.
Listened.
Then looked at Leo.
“They found Dr. Price.”
“Alive?”
Mateo nodded.
“Barely.”
“Where?”
“In an abandoned clinic.”
May you like
He hesitated.
“And he keeps asking for Beatrice.”
