Chapter 12 - Victoria CallsAt 4:06 that afternoon, Ethan’s phone rang.
Victoria.
He looked at Reyes.
The officer nodded.
“Answer.”
Ethan put the call on speaker.
“Victoria.”
Her voice was calm.
“Is Leo all right?”
Ethan’s face tightened.
“You don’t get to ask me that.”
“I never meant to hurt him.”
Sarah closed her eyes briefly.
There it was.
Not denial.
Not anymore.
Ethan said:
“You stood over him with an iron.”
“I wanted Sarah to see me.”
Sarah looked at Reyes.
His recorder was running.
“Why?”
“Because she always interfered.”
“You planned the confrontation?”
Victoria breathed slowly.
“Yes.”
Ethan’s hand tightened around the phone.
“You frightened my son to frame Sarah.”
“It wasn’t supposed to go that far.”
“You pressed the steam button.”
“I know.”
“Twice.”
Silence.
Ethan’s voice broke slightly.
“He’s nine months old.”
Victoria sounded different now.
Less polished.
More desperate.
“I lost control.”
Sarah stared at the phone.
Victoria continued.
“Sarah was supposed to come in. I was supposed to argue with her. She was supposed to grab me. The camera wasn’t supposed to be recording.”
Sarah looked toward Ethan.
Their theory had been right.
Victoria had deliberately disabled cloud recording.
Ethan turned it back on without telling her.
That single action destroyed the plan.
“Then what?” Ethan asked.
“I would file the report.”
“And I would fire Sarah.”
“Yes.”
Sarah felt a chill despite already knowing.
Ethan closed his eyes.
“Why did you need her gone?”
“She made you suspicious.”
“No. You made me suspicious.”
“She watched me constantly.”
“She protected my son.”
Victoria’s voice hardened.
“She acted like she belonged there.”
“She did belong there.”
The words came without hesitation.
Sarah looked at Ethan.
Victoria went silent.
When she spoke again, anger replaced desperation.
“My father lost everything because of your family.”
“There it is.”
“You lived in that mansion while we sold our home.”
“Your father stole from the company.”
“That’s what your father said.”
“Independent auditors proved it.”
“My mother died believing the Coles destroyed us.”
Ethan softened slightly, but only in sadness.
“I’m sorry for what happened to your mother.”
“Don’t.”
“But none of that gave you the right to use Leo.”
“I said I didn’t mean to hurt him.”
“You meant to use him.”
Victoria began crying.
For months, those tears might have changed Ethan.
Now they did not.
“Where are you?”
She ignored the question.
“Did you ever love me?”
Ethan looked away.
Sarah wondered if Reyes would interrupt.
He didn’t.
“Yes,” Ethan said.
Victoria’s breathing changed.
“Then help me.”
“I can help you surrender safely.”
“That isn’t what I mean.”
“It’s all I can offer.”
“You’re choosing Sarah again.”
Ethan’s face tightened.
“This was never about Sarah.”
“It was always about her.”
“No. It was about Leo.”
Victoria laughed softly.
“You still don’t understand.”
Sarah’s stomach tightened.
“Understand what?” Ethan asked.
“Sarah has something that belongs to my father.”
Sarah frowned.
“What?”
Victoria heard her.
“So she’s there.”
Sarah spoke.
“What do I have?”
“Ask Margaret.”
“Margaret is dead.”
“Exactly.”
Ethan looked toward Sarah.
Victoria continued:
“Your precious Margaret didn’t tell you everything.”
“Victoria,” Reyes finally said, “this is Officer Daniel Reyes. We need you to tell us where you are.”
A pause.
“So the police are listening.”
“Yes.”
Victoria laughed once.
“My father always said the Coles would hide behind lawyers and police.”
“Your father is in custody.”
Silence.
Then:
“You’re lying.”
“He was in an accident. He’s alive.”
Victoria breathed sharply.
“What hospital?”
“Tell me where you are.”
“No.”
“He said you weren’t supposed to hurt Leo.”
Another long silence.
When Victoria spoke, her voice was barely recognizable.
“My father said that?”
“Yes.”
“He told you it was my fault.”
“He said the plan wasn’t supposed to involve hurting the child.”
Victoria’s voice hardened.
“He always does that.”
“Does what?”
“When something goes wrong, suddenly it’s mine.”
Sarah heard something deeper.
A lifetime of resentment.
Victoria had followed Marcus’s plan.
But apparently Marcus had also spent years teaching her that loyalty worked in one direction.
Victoria whispered:
“He promised I would finally get back what belonged to us.”
“What?”
“The shares.”
Ethan frowned.
“What shares?”
Sarah looked at him.
Victoria said:
“The Vale shares.”
Avery, sitting nearby, straightened.
“There are no Vale shares.”
Victoria laughed bitterly.
“That’s what they told you.”
Then the call ended.
Reyes immediately began tracing it.
Ethan turned toward Avery.
“What is she talking about?”
Avery looked disturbed.
“Your father and Marcus formed a small investment partnership before Cole Heritage became what it is today.”
“Did Marcus own shares?”
“Temporarily.”
“What happened to them?”
“They were bought back during the settlement.”
“All of them?”
Avery hesitated.
Sarah noticed.
“Thomas.”
“There was a dispute over a small block.”
“How small?”
“Three percent.”
Ethan stared.
“That’s not small.”
“No.”
“What happened?”
“Margaret handled it privately after your father died.”
Sarah suddenly remembered Victoria’s words.
Sarah has something that belongs to my father.
Ask Margaret.
Everyone looked at Sarah.
She shook her head.
“I have nothing.”
But then she remembered Margaret’s final week.
A sealed wooden box.
Margaret had asked Sarah to move it from the study to the carriage house because she did not want Ethan to find it until “the right time.”
Sarah had forgotten about it after Margaret’s death.
She stood slowly.
“There is something.”
Ethan looked at her.
“What?”
“A box.”
“Where?”
Sarah felt cold.
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