Chapter 13 - Victoria's Price|
Victoria chose an abandoned art gallery on the Upper East Side for our meeting.
I went with Rebecca's help, but I insisted that the security team remain outside. If Victoria truly had information about my mother, I needed to hear it without Dante turning the conversation into an interrogation.
Victoria was waiting beside a sculpture of a woman holding a broken mirror.
She wore a white suit and looked exhausted.
"You're early," she said.
"You're threatening my mother. I thought punctuality was the least I could manage."
Her smile was thin.
"I haven't threatened her. My father has."
"Then why did you send the message?"
"Because I want to make a deal."
I folded my arms.
"You'll need to be more specific."
Victoria opened a leather folder.
Inside were bank statements, payment authorizations, and photographs of Adrian meeting with men whose names appeared in my father's ledger.
"My father has been working with Adrian for years," she said. "He helped move money through the shipping companies. In return, Adrian promised him a controlling interest in the Moretti businesses."
"And you helped them?"
"I helped my father because I thought I was protecting my family."
"By humiliating me?"
Victoria looked away.
"I was told you were an impostor. I believed what I wanted to believe."
"That's convenient."
"I know."
Her voice cracked.
For the first time, she seemed less like a queen of New York society and more like a frightened daughter who had discovered that her family was built on lies.
"What do you want from me?" I asked.
"Protection. If I testify against my father, he'll destroy me."
I studied the documents.
"Why should I trust you?"
"You shouldn't."
The answer surprised me.
Victoria took a breath.
"But you should examine the evidence. The bank accounts are real. The meetings are documented. And my father has been paying the people who collect your debt."
She handed me a final sheet.
It contained a list of transfers to the shell corporation that had controlled my wages.
At the bottom was an authorization signed by Adrian.
The debt had never been a genuine family obligation. It had been created to keep me financially dependent, prevent me from leaving the Moretti household, and ensure I remained close enough for someone to monitor me.
My hands began shaking.
"They used my father's mistakes to trap me."
"Yes."
"Did my father really owe money?"
Victoria hesitated.
"Some. Not nearly what they claimed. I found evidence that his original loan was paid off before he died."
I closed my eyes.
For years, I had believed every missed payment was another failure on my part.
I had worked double shifts, skipped meals, and turned down opportunities because I thought I was responsible for a debt that never should have followed me.
"What happens now?" I asked.
Victoria lowered her voice.
"My father plans to announce an alliance with Adrian. They want to force Dante out and make the succession dispute disappear."
"And my mother?"
"She's being held at a private estate in Westchester. My father thinks Adrian intends to use her to force you to surrender the ledger."
I stared at her.
"Then tell me where."
Victoria handed me an address.
Before I could take it, the gallery lights went out.
A crash echoed from the entrance.
Rebecca shouted my name.
Victoria grabbed my wrist.
"Run!"
We raced through a side door into a narrow alley. Two men emerged from a parked vehicle, but Rebecca's security team intercepted them.
I reached the street and turned back.
Victoria stood in the doorway, holding the folder against her chest.
A black car pulled up beside her.
The rear door opened.
My mother's face appeared through the window.
She looked older, thinner, and terrified.
"Clara!"
I ran toward her.
The car accelerated.
I caught only a glimpse of her hand reaching through the window before it disappeared into traffic.
Victoria staggered into the street.
"They took her," she gasped.
I grabbed her shoulders.
"Who?"
She looked at me with horror.
"My father."
Then a gunshot cracked across the alley.
May you like
Victoria fell.
And the last thing I heard before the world went dark was Rebecca screaming for an ambulance.
