Chapter 5 - The House of LiesWater poured from the ballroom ceiling.
She looked radiant.
Controlled.
Untouchable.
Ethan watched from the second-floor balcony.
Elena stood beside him, barely able to breathe.
Her daughter was missing.
Every instinct screamed at her to run from the estate and search every street in Boston herself.
But Victoria was downstairs.
And Victoria knew where Sofia was.
Ethan placed a hand on Elena’s shoulder.
“We get your daughter first.”
“How?”
“We make Victoria think we know nothing.”
Elena looked at him.
“She already knows I took the drive.”
“She doesn’t know I’ve seen it.”
Judith nodded.
“She believes Elena still has it.”
Daniel stood several feet away, guarded by two of Ethan’s private security officers whom Judith had summoned discreetly.
His tuxedo jacket had been removed.
His face was gray.
Ethan pointed at him.
“You’re going downstairs.”
Daniel stared.
“What?”
“You’re going to stand beside Victoria like nothing happened.”
“She’ll know.”
“Then convince her.”
“She knows me.”
“So do I.”
Ethan stepped closer.
“For twenty-three years I thought you were my brother.”
Daniel flinched.
“Tonight you get one opportunity to prove there’s something human left in you.”
Daniel swallowed.
“What do you want?”
“Find out where Sofia is.”
“And after?”
“You tell me everything.”
“What happens to me?”
“That’s between you and the district attorney.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“You really think she’ll confess?”
“No.”
Ethan’s eyes hardened.
“But she trusts you enough to be careless.”
Downstairs, Victoria tapped the microphone.
“My love?”
Ethan forced his face into something resembling a smile.
Then he descended the staircase.
The room erupted with applause.
Victoria kissed him.
For the first time in two years, Ethan felt nothing when her lips touched his.
Not affection.
Not desire.
Only revulsion.
She whispered, “Where were you?”
“Work call.”
“With your housekeeper?”
His stomach tightened.
He smiled at the crowd.
“What are you talking about?”
“I saw Elena go upstairs.”
“She was helping my mother.”
Victoria searched his face.
Then she smiled.
“You look tired.”
“I am.”
“Maybe you should take your medication.”
“No.”
A tiny pause.
Ethan kissed her cheek.
“Not tonight.”
Victoria’s eyes cooled.
Then she turned to the crowd.
“As all of you know, Ethan has spent his entire life building things.”
Laughter.
“Companies, foundations, skylines. But the one thing he has never been especially good at building…”
She grinned at him.
“…is a personal life.”
More laughter.
Ethan played along.
Victoria continued.
“So I wanted to give him something tonight that reminds him family comes before business.”
The ballroom doors opened.
Two employees wheeled in a massive architectural model.
It was a miniature version of the Blackwood estate surrounded by new buildings.
A children’s hospital.
A school.
A research center.
Victoria announced plans for the “Blackwood-Sinclair Family Foundation.”
Guests applauded.
Ethan stared at the model.
The foundation already existed on the stolen documents.
It was the vehicle Victoria intended to use to control more of his assets after marriage.
She had disguised the theft as charity.
“You like it?” she whispered.
“It’s unforgettable.”
Victoria smiled.
Across the ballroom, Daniel appeared.
He moved beside her.
She barely looked at him.
“Where were you?”
“Bathroom.”
“You look awful.”
“Too much bourbon.”
She glanced toward Elena, who had returned to serving drinks.
“Find her.”
Daniel nodded.
“Why?”
“Because she has something of mine.”
“What?”
Victoria turned toward him.
“The drive.”
Daniel pretended surprise.
“Elena has it?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“She found the stash.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened convincingly.
“What did she see?”
“I don’t know.”
“And Sofia?”
Victoria took a sip of champagne.
“Safe.”
“Where?”
She looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because if the maid panics and calls the police, we need leverage.”
“We have leverage.”
“Where?”
Victoria leaned close.
“Alice has her.”
“Where is Alice?”
“Daniel.”
Her tone became dangerous.
“You’re asking questions you already know better than to ask.”
He smiled.
“You’re right.”
He moved away.
Across the ballroom, he scratched his left ear.
The signal.
Judith saw it.
She slipped into the pantry where Ethan waited.
“She said Alice has her.”
Ethan frowned.
“Alice who?”
Daniel entered behind Judith.
“Alice Fenwick. Victoria’s former assistant.”
“Address?”
“I don’t know.”
“Phone?”
“Burner.”
Elena entered.
“You said you knew.”
“I know Alice used to rent a place in Charlestown. Victoria bought her a property last year.”
Ethan pulled out his phone.
He called his head of security.
“Find every property connected to Alice Fenwick, Victoria Sinclair, Brighton Meridian, or any associated trust. Boston area first.”
The security chief did not ask why.
“Ten minutes.”
Elena pressed her hands together.
“She’s seven.”
Ethan looked at her.
“I know.”
“She’s afraid of the dark.”
“We’ll find her.”
“You can’t promise that.”
“No.”
He paused.
“But I can promise I will spend everything I have, call everyone I know, and tear this city apart brick by brick before I let Victoria hurt her.”
Elena stared at him.
This was not the billionaire from magazine covers.
Not the groom standing beneath chandeliers.
This was a son who had just learned his father might have been murdered.
A man discovering his mother had been poisoned.
And still his first priority was a housekeeper’s child.
Her voice cracked.
“Thank you.”
His phone buzzed.
Security.
“Three properties. One condo in Back Bay. One storage facility outside Cambridge. One townhouse in Charlestown purchased through Brighton Meridian seven months ago.”
“Send teams to all three.”
Ethan looked at Elena.
“We’re going to Charlestown.”
Judith stopped him.
“If you both disappear, Victoria knows.”
Ethan looked toward the ballroom.
His mother stood beside a table.
Victoria was approaching her with a glass of water.
A white tablet rested between Victoria’s fingers.
Ethan’s entire body stiffened.
He crossed the ballroom before anyone could stop him.
Victoria smiled.
“Your mother’s anxious.”
Ethan took the tablet from her hand.
“I’ll handle it.”
Victoria looked at him.
“Of course.”
He slipped the pill into his pocket.
Margaret whispered, “Don’t drink anything she gives you.”
Ethan squeezed her hand.
“I won’t.”
Victoria watched them.
Then her eyes shifted to Daniel.
Something in her expression changed.
Suspicion.
She crossed to him.
“Come with me.”
“Why?”
“Now.”
Daniel followed her into the east corridor.
Ethan saw them leave.
He waited twenty seconds.
Then followed.
Victoria led Daniel into the library.
She closed the door.
Ethan stopped outside.
Through the wood came Victoria’s voice.
“Where’s the drive?”
“I told you. Elena has it.”
“No.”
“What?”
“She doesn’t.”
Daniel said nothing.
Victoria continued.
“I searched her locker.”
“You searched—”
“I searched everything.”
“She could have hidden it.”
“She did.”
A pause.
“With Judith.”
Ethan’s pulse jumped.
Victoria laughed softly.
“You went into Charles’s study ten minutes after Judith did.”
Daniel remained silent.
“And now Ethan suddenly refuses his medication.”
Another pause.
Victoria’s voice dropped.
“Did you tell him?”
“No.”
“Look at me.”
“I didn’t.”
Ethan heard movement.
Then Victoria spoke again.
“If you betrayed me, Daniel, you just signed a death warrant.”
“For who?”
“For everyone.”
Ethan reached for the door.
Then Daniel said, “Victoria, stop.”
“Too late.”
“What did you do?”
“Insurance.”
“What insurance?”
Her answer came quietly.
“The same kind I used on Charles.”
Ethan’s hand froze on the knob.
Inside, Daniel whispered, “You killed him.”
Victoria laughed.
“No, Daniel.”
A pause.
“You did.”
Silence.
Then Victoria continued.
“You bought the medication. You altered the medical records. You transferred the money.”
“You told me—”
“And when the police receive my evidence, who do you think they’ll believe? The grieving fiancée?”
Daniel’s voice broke.
“You set me up.”
“I prepare for disappointment.”
Ethan opened the library door.
Victoria spun.
For once, she could not hide the shock.
Ethan stepped inside.
“Good.”
His voice was calm.
“Then you won’t be disappointed now.”
Victoria looked at Daniel.
Then Ethan.
Then at the phone in Ethan’s hand.
Recording.
Her face emptied.
“Ethan.”
“Where is Sofia?”
Victoria blinked.
“Who?”
He crossed the room.
“The seven-year-old girl you kidnapped.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Daniel whispered, “Alice.”
Victoria turned on him.
Ethan saw confirmation in her reaction.
“You have thirty seconds,” he said.
Victoria smiled.
“You won’t hurt me.”
“No.”
“I know you.”
Ethan leaned closer.
“That’s the problem.”
He held up the flash drive.
“I finally know you too.”
Victoria stared at it.
For the first time that evening, real fear appeared in her face.
Then she did something none of them expected.
She reached inside her evening bag and pressed a button.
Somewhere in the mansion, the fire alarm exploded to life.
Sprinklers burst from the ceiling.
Guests screamed.
May you like
Lights flickered.
In the confusion, Victoria ran.
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