Chapter 5 - Victoria’s Secret
Ryan refused to believe it.
Not at first.
“My mother can be controlling.”
He paced across my living room.
“She can be manipulative.”
He turned.
“She can be impossible.”
“Strong defense.”
“But she would not hide my children from me.”
“Anna says she did.”
“Anna took Richard’s money.”
“Yes.”
“Which makes her unreliable.”
“It also makes her useful.”
Ryan stared at the floor.
“I need to hear it from my mother.”
I understood.
Some betrayals are too large to accept from a stranger.
Victoria Harrison arrived in Chicago the following afternoon.
She flew private.
Of course she did.
She requested a hotel meeting.
I insisted on my attorney’s office.
No lawyers were present.
Only Ryan, Victoria, and me.
When Victoria entered, she looked exactly as I remembered.
Elegant gray suit.
Pearl earrings.
Perfect posture.
Cold blue eyes.
Time had softened almost nothing.
She looked at me first.
“Emily.”
“Victoria.”
Then she saw Ryan.
Her expression changed.
“Ryan.”
He didn’t hug her.
That told her everything.
She sat.
“So.”
Ryan remained standing.
“Did you know?”
Victoria sighed.
“We should discuss this calmly.”
“That means yes.”
“Ryan.”
“Did you know Emily was pregnant?”
Victoria looked at me.
I felt no triumph.
Only anger.
“Yes.”
Ryan stopped breathing.
The room went silent.
“When?”
Victoria folded her hands.
“I received the letter shortly after you separated.”
“Emily sent that letter to me.”
“I know.”
“You opened my mail?”
“It came through the family office.”
“You had Anna give it to you.”
Victoria said nothing.
Ryan’s voice rose.
“Answer me.”
“Yes.”
I had seen Ryan angry many times.
This was different.
This was grief wearing anger because anger was easier to survive.
“You knew I had children.”
“I knew Emily claimed she was pregnant.”
“Claimed?”
Victoria’s eyes hardened slightly.
“At the time, there was uncertainty.”
“There was an ultrasound.”
“I saw it.”
Ryan stared at her.
“You saw my sons before I did.”
Victoria looked away.
“Ryan.”
“You saw them.”
“Yes.”
His voice cracked.
“Why?”
Victoria took a breath.
“Because you were not in a condition to handle it.”
Ryan laughed.
It was a terrible sound.
“I was thirty-two years old.”
“You were drinking.”
He froze.
I looked at him.
Ryan’s face changed.
That was new information.
Victoria continued.
“You were barely sleeping.”
“You had just lost the European expansion vote.”
“You were furious with Emily.”
“You were furious with yourself.”
“And Richard believed—”
Ryan slammed his palm onto the table.
“There it is.”
Victoria became silent.
“Richard.”
She looked at me.
Then back at Ryan.
“He told me Emily was using the pregnancy to regain influence.”
I stared at her.
“You believed that?”
“I didn’t know what to believe.”
“You knew me for six years.”
“I knew ambition.”
“That wasn’t ambition.”
“You owned technology worth hundreds of millions.”
“So did your son.”
“That was exactly the problem.”
Ryan frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Victoria looked uncomfortable.
“Your marriage created overlapping rights.”
“So?”
“Richard was preparing the restructuring.”
Ryan’s expression darkened.
“What restructuring?”
“The one that allowed Harrison Green to raise the Series E capital.”
Ryan stared.
“That happened after the divorce.”
“Yes.”
“I approved it.”
“After Richard told you the company would collapse without it.”
Ryan went still.
I watched pieces fall into place behind his eyes.
“Emily’s patents.”
Victoria nodded.
“Her presence complicated control.”
I leaned forward.
“So Richard wanted me gone.”
“Yes.”
“And when Ryan discovered messages that looked like an affair, Richard saw an opportunity.”
Victoria did not answer.
Ryan did.
“He created the opportunity.”
His mother looked at him.
“I don’t know that.”
“You knew about the pregnancy.”
“Yes.”
“You hid it.”
“Yes.”
“Anna intercepted the letters.”
“On my instruction.”
“You paid her?”
“No.”
“Richard did.”
“I learned that later.”
“When?”
“A year afterward.”
Ryan stared at her in disbelief.
“And you said nothing.”
“What would I have said?”
“The truth.”
His voice broke.
“You could have said the truth.”
Victoria’s eyes filled slightly.
It was the first genuine emotion I had ever seen from her.
“I was ashamed.”
Ryan laughed bitterly.
“You were ashamed?”
“Yes.”
“You knew I had three sons.”
“I knew after they were born.”
My stomach tightened.
“How?”
Victoria looked at me.
“I hired someone.”
The room seemed to shrink.
“You investigated me?”
“I wanted to know if the children were healthy.”
I stood.
“You had no right.”
“I know.”
“Did you see them?”
“Photographs.”
“You watched us?”
“For less than a year.”
Ryan’s face had gone white.
“Mom.”
“I stopped.”
“You watched my children grow up through an investigator.”
“I wanted to know they were safe.”
Ryan stared at her.
“They were my children.”
“I know.”
“And you left me ignorant.”
“I thought telling you would destroy everything.”
“What?”
“The company?”
“Your life.”
“My life was already destroyed.”
Victoria looked at him.
“You were rebuilding.”
“I was hiding.”
His voice dropped.
“I worked eighteen-hour days because I couldn’t stand going home.”
Victoria’s expression softened.
“I know.”
“No.”
Ryan shook his head.
“You knew nothing.”
He walked toward the window.
“I spent five years convincing myself Emily betrayed me.”
He looked back.
“Do you know how many times I almost called her?”
I stared at him.
He had never told me that.
Victoria lowered her eyes.
“Do you know how many times I stopped myself because I thought she had chosen someone else?”
Silence.
Ryan turned to me.
“I almost came to Chicago once.”
My chest tightened.
“When?”
“Two years after the divorce.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“My mother told me you were engaged.”
I slowly looked at Victoria.
She went pale.
“You told him what?”
Victoria swallowed.
“I was told you were seeing someone.”
“That wasn’t the same thing.”
“Who?”
“A colleague.”
“Who?”
“Daniel West.”
I laughed in disbelief.
“Daniel is gay.”
Ryan closed his eyes.
Victoria looked stunned.
I almost enjoyed that.
Almost.
Ryan turned away from both of us.
“This is unbelievable.”
“There’s more,” Victoria whispered.
His shoulders tightened.
“Of course there is.”
She opened her handbag.
From inside, she removed a small brass key.
Ryan looked at it.
“What’s that?”
“Your father gave it to me six months before he died.”
Ryan became very still.
“For what?”
“A safe-deposit box.”
“Where?”
“Greenwich Federal Trust.”
“What’s inside?”
“I don’t know.”
Ryan stared at her.
“You never opened it?”
“He told me not to unless Richard became dangerous.”
My skin prickled.
“What exactly did Thomas say?” I asked.
Victoria looked at me.
“He said Richard had done something unforgivable.”
Ryan turned around.
“What?”
“He wouldn’t explain.”
“When was this?”
“Eight months after the Series E restructuring.”
Ryan’s face hardened.
“Why are you telling us now?”
Victoria’s eyes moved toward him.
“Because last night Richard called me.”
“What did he want?”
“He asked whether you knew about the children.”
Ryan and I exchanged a glance.
“What did you say?”
“I told him yes.”
“And?”
Victoria’s voice lowered.
“He told me I had made a mistake by coming to Chicago.”
I felt a chill.
“Was that a threat?”
“I believe so.”
Ryan took the key.
His hand closed around it.
“You’re coming with us.”
“To Connecticut?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
Ryan stared at her.
Victoria shook her head.
“I already made one mistake by underestimating Richard.”
She stood.
“I won’t make another.”
She looked at me.
“I know you hate me.”
“I don’t have enough energy for hate.”
“That might be worse.”
“It is.”
Victoria nodded.
“I am sorry.”
I said nothing.
Some apologies require more than words.
Ryan slipped the key into his pocket.
Then Victoria reached into her bag again.
She removed an envelope.
Old.
Yellowed slightly.
Ryan stared at the handwriting.
His father’s.
“For Ryan,” the front said.
Ryan’s hands trembled as he opened it.
Inside was a single sheet.
He read silently.
His face changed.
“What?” I asked.
He handed it to me.
Thomas Harrison had written only six lines.
Ryan,
If you are reading this, I failed to fix what I allowed Richard to do.
Do not trust the corporate records.
Emily’s original research was never legally transferred.
Find the Raven file.
And whatever you do, do not let Richard learn you have the key.
Ryan stared at his mother.
“When did Richard call you?”
“This morning.”
“Did you tell him about the key?”
“No.”
Ryan’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
No one spoke.
Then a man’s voice came through.
Calm.
Older.
Familiar.
“Ryan.”
Ryan’s expression turned to ice.
Richard Harrison.
“I hear you’ve been asking questions.”
Ryan said nothing.
Richard continued.
“You should spend your energy getting to know your new family.”
A pause.
“While you still have the chance.”
The call ended.
Ryan looked at me.
And for the first time, the mystery surrounding our divorce had become something more dangerous than betrayal.
May you like
Someone was afraid of what Thomas Harrison had hidden.
And whatever was inside the Raven file was important enough to threaten my children over.
