Chapter 3 - THE FOURTEEN-MINUTE COUNTDOWNWhile doctors stabilized Mia inside the mansion, Victoria stood alone in the study.
The room had once been Eleanor's throne.
Mahogany walls.
Original oil paintings.
A fireplace carved from Italian stone.
A desk worth more than most homes.
Victoria looked at the family portraits.
Eleanor stood proudly in every one.
Victoria as a child.
Mia as a baby.
Their mother smiling beside them.
Victoria stared at that photograph for a long time.
Her mother had supposedly abandoned them.
That was the official story.
She had disappeared when Victoria was fourteen.
Eleanor had always said she left willingly.
But Victoria had never believed it.
Now Marcus Hale, Eleanor's longtime legal adviser, stood nervously across the room.
“You asked for the files.”
Victoria didn't look at him.
“All of them.”
Marcus placed several folders on the desk.
“Corporate acquisitions. Medical records. Property transfers.”
“And my mother?”
Marcus hesitated.
Victoria finally looked at him.
His face went pale.
“You know something.”
“I know pieces.”
“Then tonight, you're going to give me every piece.”
Marcus opened the first file.
The medical records had been altered.
The signatures were inconsistent.
Dates had been changed.
One document showed their mother being admitted to a private psychiatric facility.
Another showed her voluntarily leaving the country.
A third claimed she had died overseas.
Three different stories.
Three different lies.
Victoria slowly closed the file.
“Who ordered the falsification?”
Marcus said nothing.
Victoria stepped closer.
“Marcus.”
“Eleanor.”
Silence.
Outside, police sirens approached the estate.
Victoria looked toward the windows.
Then at the clock.
Fourteen minutes.
That was all it had taken.
Fourteen minutes for Eleanor to lose control of her company.
Fourteen minutes for Victoria to freeze the family accounts.
Fourteen minutes for the board to discover that its voting shares had been quietly acquired.
Fourteen minutes for fifty years of fear to become weakness.
May you like
Victoria whispered:
“Tonight, the truth begins.”
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