CHAPTER 9 — The Betrayal Before the Wedding
Elena had met Victor twelve years earlier.
She was twenty-three, desperate for work, and still searching for the family connected to her locket.
Victor hired her as a junior accountant.
At first, she believed he was helping struggling companies avoid bankruptcy.
Then she discovered the companies were empty shells.
Money moved through them and disappeared.
While searching Victor’s private records, Elena found a file labeled WHITMORE.
Inside was Emily’s photograph.
Victor asked whether Elena knew the woman.
“I said I thought she might be connected to my birth family,” Elena confessed. “I gave him your full name.”
Months later, Victor attended a charity event where Emily was speaking.
Their relationship began that night.
“You led him to me,” Emily said.
“I didn’t know what he wanted.”
“But after you discovered the truth, you said nothing.”
“I was afraid.”
Emily stood.
“So was I. Every day of my marriage.”
Elena closed her eyes.
Emily left without saying goodbye.
Victor’s midnight deadline approached.
Federal agents prepared a covert rescue operation at the mansion despite his demand for no police.
Thomas discovered a signal broadcasting from inside the house. Victor had wired the rooms with cameras and motion sensors.
“He’ll know when we enter,” Thomas said.
Emily examined the mansion plans.
“There’s a passage beneath the east garden.”
Thomas shook his head.
“The tunnel collapsed years ago.”
“No. Victor only said it did.”
At eleven forty-five, Emily arrived at the mansion in a black SUV.
Elena was no longer in jail.
Detective Bennett had secured her release after the original footage became public.
The sisters entered separately through the underground passage.
Emily carried the trust documents Victor demanded.
Elena carried nothing.
They found Margaret tied to a chair in the ballroom.
Victor stood behind her with a gun.
“You brought the maid,” he said.
“She’s my sister,” Emily replied.
Victor laughed.
“She was my employee before she was your sister.”
Elena moved toward Margaret.
Victor raised the weapon.
“Not another step.”
He demanded that Elena sign away her controlling interest in the Whitmore estate. Emily would then transfer her share to Victor.
The documents on the table had already been prepared.
Elena picked up the pen.
“Don’t,” Emily said.
Victor pressed the gun against Margaret’s temple.
Elena signed.
Then Emily signed.
Victor checked the pages and smiled.
“At last.”
He released Margaret.
Thomas and federal agents stormed the ballroom.
Victor escaped through the hidden passage, but the signed documents remained behind.
The family attorney examined them.
His face went pale.
“These are legally binding.”
Emily stared at Elena.
“We just gave him everything.”
Elena looked toward the chandelier room.
“No,” she said. “We gave him what he expected.”
She reached beneath her sleeve and removed a tiny key.
“The original trust documents are still inside this house.”
“Where?”
“Beneath the floor where the chandelier fell.”
A heavy mechanical click echoed through the mansion.
Steel shutters slammed over every window.
Then Victor’s voice came through the speakers.
May you like
“You should have left the floor closed.”
Flames erupted beneath the ballroom doors.
