“Alexander, listen to me. That woman is dangerous. She has spent twelve years building a story about your family, and she’s finally found an opportunity to destroy us.”
“Us?”
Victoria hesitated.
“Our future. Our marriage. Everything we’ve worked for.”
He studied her carefully.
“Why did you look frightened when she mentioned the agreement?”
“I didn’t.”
“You did.”
“You’re imagining things.”
Alexander stepped closer.
“Then you won’t mind if I ask our lawyers to investigate every document she brought.”
Victoria’s expression changed.
For a moment, he saw something behind her eyes that he had never seen before.
Fear.
“Please don’t do that,” she whispered.
“Why?”
She opened her mouth, but no answer came.
Alexander walked away.
For the first time in his life, he wondered whether the woman he intended to marry had been lying to him from the beginning.
That night, shortly after eleven, he locked himself inside his father’s study.
The envelope contained a handwritten letter dated twelve years earlier.
Alexander recognized his father’s handwriting immediately.
Dear Daniel,
I have tried every possible way to correct what happened, but I cannot do it without exposing the people who made the original decision. If I speak now, they will destroy everything we built.
I know you believe I betrayed you. I hope one day you will understand that silence was never the same as innocence.
Give me forty-eight hours.
Richard.
Alexander read the letter twice.
Then he noticed something written on the back.
A name.
Margaret Hale.
Victoria’s mother.
Before he could process it, someone knocked on the study door.
“Alexander?” his father’s voice called.
Alexander quickly folded the letter.
“Come in.”
Richard entered and shut the door behind him.
For a long moment, father and son stared at each other.
Then Alexander held up the letter.
