Chapter 15 - Victoria’s Final Plan
Police traced Daniel’s call to an industrial district.
By the time officers arrived, his phone had been abandoned inside a trash container.
But Daniel left something behind intentionally.
A flash drive.
On it were messages between him and Victoria.
Months of them.
Daniel had helped install hidden cameras.
He falsified visitor logs.
He gathered information about Elena’s family.
He created fake complaints suggesting Elena was negligent.
He helped Victoria access hospital systems.
But the messages revealed something else.
Daniel believed they were conducting a blackmail scheme.
Victoria told him Marcus would pay millions to prevent damaging footage involving his household from becoming public.
Daniel never knew Victoria intended to frame Elena for the pool incident.
He discovered that only afterward.
One message from Daniel read:
You said scare him.
You never said put the kid in the water.
Victoria replied:
The child was never in real danger.
Daniel answered:
You can’t know that.
Victoria wrote:
Elena was there.
Marcus read the exchange repeatedly.
She had used Elena’s goodness as part of the plan.
Victoria knew Elena would risk her life for the baby.
That was why she chose that moment.
Another message revealed the next stage.
After Elena was arrested, Daniel would leak stories to the press about Marcus employing unstable staff.
Victoria would publicly defend Marcus.
She would stand beside him.
Comfort him.
Become indispensable.
Then she intended to persuade Marcus to marry her quietly.
If he refused, the blackmail material would begin.
Marcus finally understood why Victoria wanted the old recordings.
Some footage showed private moments inside his property.
Arguments.
Medical visits.
Business conversations.
None were criminal.
But they could be edited.
Manipulated.
Turned into scandals.
Victoria wanted emotional control first.
Financial leverage second.
Detective Cole studied the last messages.
One had been sent thirty minutes earlier.
Daniel wrote:
I’m done.
Victoria answered:
Then you’re useless.
Cole immediately looked up.
“We need to find him.”
Daniel was now in danger.
The search expanded.
Marcus remained at the hospital with his son.
Elena sat nearby.
The baby had been cleared for discharge the following morning.
Marcus looked at Elena.
“You don’t have to stay.”
“I know.”
“Why are you?”
She looked toward the crib.
“Because he’s still scared.”
Marcus almost smiled.
“He’s nine months old.”
“He knows when something is wrong.”
Marcus nodded.
Then he said quietly.
“I fired Victoria from every company board and revoked every account she could access.”
Elena looked at him.
“She had access to your companies?”
“Some charity accounts.”
“That seems dangerous.”
“I trusted her.”
Elena was silent.
Marcus looked down.
“That sentence is becoming embarrassing.”
A nurse entered carrying a package.
“This was delivered for you.”
Marcus frowned.
There was no sender name.
Cole was called before it was opened.
Inside was Natalie’s cedar box.
The original letter was inside.
So was a second letter Marcus had never seen.
It was addressed to Victoria.
Natalie had written it years earlier but apparently never sent it.
Marcus unfolded it.
Victoria,
You keep telling yourself that you want my life.
But you do not know the cost of loving someone.
Love is not possession.
Love is not becoming another person.
Love is accepting that someone can choose a life that does not include you.
Please get help before you destroy your own.
Marcus stopped reading.
A handwritten note had been added beneath Natalie’s words.
Different ink.
May you like
Victoria’s handwriting.
Too late.
