Chapter 14 - THE WOMAN VICTORIA COULD NOT BUY
Nathan's answer to Victoria was immediate.
NO.
Margaret's answer was different.
"I am going."
Nathan stared at her.
"No."
Margaret raised one eyebrow.
Nathan caught himself.
"I strongly object."
Ruth made a satisfied sound.
Margaret ignored her.
"Victoria wants me alone because she thinks I am easier to move without you in the room."
"That is exactly why you should not go."
"Or exactly why I should."
Marcus stepped in.
"We can wire the location."
Nathan turned on him.
"You are encouraging this?"
"I am acknowledging that Mrs. Ellis is going whether you like it or not."
Margaret nodded.
"I like him."
Nathan did not.
At least not at that moment.
Victoria chose a private dining room at the Bellamy Hotel.
The hotel was not owned by Whitmore or Rainer.
That was deliberate.
Detective Ward approved the meeting only after Margaret agreed to wear a recording device and Marcus placed security in the adjoining rooms.
Nathan waited two floors above with Ward.
He hated every second.
Margaret entered the dining room at four in the afternoon.
Victoria was already there.
She wore a simple gray suit.
No diamonds.
No red dress.
No performance of future Mrs. Whitmore.
For the first time since Nathan came home, she looked tired.
Margaret sat opposite her.
"You said you could stop the threats."
Victoria poured water.
"I can."
"How?"
"Give Dominic what he wants."
Margaret almost smiled.
"That is not stopping a threat."
"It stops being your threat."
Victoria slid a folder across the table.
Margaret opened it.
Inside was a settlement agreement.
Ten million dollars.
A house in Charleston.
Lifetime medical coverage.
A formal retirement package.
In exchange, Margaret would disclaim all interest in the Evelyn Whitmore Trust, return the signet ring, and state publicly that Nathan had pressured her to accuse Victoria.
Margaret looked up.
"You think ten million dollars is enough?"
Victoria studied her.
"You have lived on a household salary for years."
"I thought you might appreciate comfort."
Margaret closed the folder.
"You still do not understand me."
Victoria's mouth tightened.
"Everyone understands money."
"No."
"Everyone understands need."
Margaret pushed the folder back.
"You only understand people when you can price their need."
Victoria's eyes flashed.
"That is easy to say when you secretly own eight hundred million dollars in stock."
Margaret leaned forward.
"I did not know what it was worth until this week."
"But you knew it existed."
"Yes."
"And you still polished silver."
"Sometimes."
"You still checked grocery deliveries."
"Yes."
"You cleaned up after people who had less money than you."
Margaret nodded.
"Yes."
Victoria stared at her as though that behavior offended the laws of nature.
"Why?"
Margaret considered the question.
"Because work does not become humiliating simply because someone else thinks they are above it."
Victoria looked away.
For one moment, her face looked young.
Then the hardness returned.
"You were always there."
Margaret waited.
"When Nathan chose flowers, he asked what his mother liked."
"When he bought this hotel, he asked whether Ruth's kitchen needed new equipment."
"When I changed the Christmas menu, he asked whether you had approved it."
Victoria's voice tightened.
"I was supposed to become the woman of that house."
Margaret's expression softened.
"You thought that meant every other woman had to become smaller."
Victoria flinched.
"Do not psychoanalyze me."
"I am not."
"I am telling you what I watched."
Victoria leaned back.
"You enjoyed being needed."
"Yes."
Margaret answered so simply that Victoria blinked.
"There is nothing wrong with being needed."
"There is something wrong with making people helpless so they need you."
Victoria looked down at her hands.
The engagement ring glittered on her finger.
Margaret noticed.
"Why are you still wearing that?"
Victoria covered it with her other hand.
"Because he has not asked for it back."
Margaret's voice was gentle.
"Would it matter if he did?"
Victoria looked at her.
For the first time, tears appeared without calculation.
"Yes."
Margaret said nothing.
Victoria wiped them away angrily.
"Do not look at me like that."
"Like what?"
"Like there is still something in me worth pitying."
"I do not pity you."
Margaret paused.
"I think you made terrible choices after being given many chances not to."
Victoria laughed bitterly.
"You sound like Evelyn."
The name came too naturally.
Margaret caught it.
"You knew her."
Victoria's face changed.
Upstairs, Nathan leaned toward the monitor.
Ward looked at him.
Neither spoke.
Margaret repeated the question.
"You knew Evelyn Whitmore."
Victoria stared at the water glass.
"Once."
"When?"
"I was nineteen."
Margaret went very still.
Evelyn had been alive then.
Nathan had been twenty-three and living in New York.
Victoria continued.
"My mother brought me to her office."
"Evelyn looked at me for a long time."
"Then she told my mother I was not responsible for how I was born."
Margaret closed her eyes.
"She knew."
"About Victor?"
Victoria nodded.
"My mother told me that day."
Upstairs, Nathan felt anger rise.
Victoria had known for more than a decade.
Every claim that Dominic revealed the truth two years ago had been another lie.
Margaret asked quietly.
"What else did Evelyn tell you?"
Victoria's jaw tightened.
"That Lawrence Caldwell was my father in every way that mattered."
"She told me Victor would use blood to make me feel entitled to things I had not earned."
Margaret looked at her.
"And did he?"
"Victor was dead by then."
"Dominic, then."
Victoria looked toward the window.
"Dominic found me six years later."
"He showed me documents."
"He told me Victor's money had saved Whitmore and that Evelyn stole the company from him."
"Did you believe him?"
"I wanted to."
Margaret heard the truth inside that answer.
"Why?"
Victoria's mouth twisted.
"Because being cheated out of a fortune felt better than being the child of an affair everyone had protected out of embarrassment."
Margaret sat quietly.
Victoria continued.
"Then I met Nathan."
Upstairs, Nathan felt the room become smaller.
"Was that arranged?" Margaret asked.
Victoria did not answer immediately.
That was answer enough.
Margaret's face fell.
"You targeted him."
"At first."
Nathan shut his eyes.
Ward looked away, giving him privacy he had not requested.
Victoria's voice shook.
"I was supposed to meet him."
"Make him trust me."
"Learn how the family trust worked."
"Nothing else."
"And then?"
Victoria looked at her engagement ring.
"Then he asked me to dinner again."
"Then again."
"Then I forgot which parts were supposed to be fake."
Margaret's eyes softened despite herself.
Victoria saw it and became angry.
"Do not."
"I told you not to pity me."
"Love does not erase what you did."
"I know."
Victoria's voice broke.
"That is the problem."
For several seconds, neither woman spoke.
Then Margaret pointed to the settlement folder.
"If you love him, why are you still doing this?"
Victoria looked directly at her.
"Because I need his name by Friday."
Margaret's posture changed.
"Why?"
"The spousal delegation."
"The document at the board meeting was forged."
"The copy was."
Victoria smiled faintly.
"The underlying clause is real."
Upstairs, James Mercer, listening on a secure feed, immediately began searching trust documents.
Victoria continued.
"If Nathan and I marry before the shareholder action, I can petition for temporary voting authority if he is declared conflicted."
Margaret stared at her.
"You planned to marry him while accusing him of being unfit."
"I planned to keep Dominic from taking everything."
"By taking it first."
Victoria's face hardened.
"You do not understand what Helen will do if Dominic fails."
Margaret leaned forward.
"Then tell me."
Victoria glanced toward the door as though she suddenly feared being overheard.
The irony would have been funny in another life.
"My mother has Paige."
Margaret froze.
"Your sister?"
"Paige never wanted any of this."
"I used her at the bank because Helen threatened to expose debts that would destroy her husband."
"Now Paige is missing because she tried to leave."
Margaret's face tightened.
"Where is she?"
"I do not know."
"Dominic does."
Victoria's voice dropped.
"If I walk away before Friday, Helen will make sure Paige pays for it."
Margaret sat back.
"So you want me to give up the trust."
"Yes."
"And lie about Nathan."
"Yes."
"To save Paige."
Victoria looked at her.
"And myself."
Margaret appreciated the honesty more than she wanted to.
She reached for the settlement folder.
Victoria's shoulders loosened.
Then Margaret tore the agreement in half.
Victoria stared at her.
Margaret tore it again.
"I will help Paige if I can."
"I will not help you steal from Nathan to do it."
Victoria stood abruptly.
"Then the threats continue."
Margaret looked up at her.
"No."
"Now the police know who to ask."
Victoria froze.
Margaret touched the small recording device beneath her collar.
Victoria's face went white.
Upstairs, Ward was already standing.
Nathan felt no triumph.
He only felt tired.
Victoria backed away from the table.
"You set me up."
Margaret's expression was sad.
"You invited me."
The door opened.
Detective Ward entered with two officers.
Victoria closed her eyes.
Nathan came in behind them.
She saw him.
Whatever remained of her composure disappeared.
"How much did you hear?"
Nathan looked at the engagement ring on her hand.
"Enough."
Victoria's mouth trembled.
"Nathan."
He held out his hand.
She looked at it.
"What?"
"The ring."
The room became silent.
Victoria slowly covered her left hand.
"Not here."
Nathan did not move.
"You used my name as part of a plan before you knew me."
"Then you used my house."
"My staff."
"My company."
"And when you decided you loved me, you kept doing it."
Victoria began crying.
This time Nathan believed the tears.
They changed nothing.
"The ring, Victoria."
Her fingers shook as she pulled it free.
She placed it in his palm.
The diamond looked strangely ordinary there.
Nathan closed his hand.
Ward stepped forward.
"Victoria Caldwell, I need you to come with me regarding fraud, identity theft, and conspiracy allegations."
Victoria looked at Margaret.
"Helen will destroy Paige."
Margaret answered quietly.
"Then help us stop her."
Victoria laughed through tears.
"You still think people can choose better at the last minute."
Margaret looked at Nathan.
Then back at Victoria.
"Sometimes the last minute is the only one left."
As Ward led Victoria away, James rushed into the room with his laptop.
"Nathan."
"What?"
"I found the spousal clause."
Nathan's jaw tightened.
"Is she right?"
"Partly."
"The clause exists, but it cannot activate unless Margaret's voting interest is invalid or suspended."
Margaret frowned.
"Then that is why they challenged me."
James nodded.
"And the court just scheduled an emergency hearing tomorrow morning."
Nathan looked at him.
"Friday morning."
"Nine o'clock."
"Before the shareholder meeting?"
"One hour before."
James's expression became worse.
"There is one more thing."
He turned the screen.
The trust did not name Margaret Ellis.
May you like
It named Margaret Whitmore.
