Chapter 3
Victoria’s car screeched to a halt in front of her father’s estate forty minutes later.
The gates were already opening for her.
They always did.
She had called from the road.
Screaming.
Crying.
Half-hysterical.
Her father had listened in silence.
Then said only four words.
“Come home. Now.”
Victoria ran up the marble steps.
The front door swung open before she reached it.
Her father stood in the doorway.
Harrison Voss.
Seventy-two years old.
Silver hair.
Steel eyes.
A man who had built a billion-dollar empire on the backs of people who were too slow or too honest to stop him.
He looked at his daughter’s red cheek.
At her tear-streaked face.
He did not reach for her.
He never did.
Affection was weakness.
Harrison Voss did not believe in weakness.
“Inside,” he said.
Victoria followed him into the study.
The same room where every important decision of her life had been made.
Where Arthur’s fate had been decided twelve years ago.
Where the fates of hundreds of others had been decided and discarded.
Harrison sat behind his massive oak desk.
Pressed a button on the intercom.
“Burke. Join us.”
He released the button.
Looked at his daughter.
“Start from the beginning. Leave nothing out.”
Victoria told him.
Everything.
The children finding the photograph.
Arthur hitting her.
Throwing her out.
She expected rage.
She expected him to pick up the phone and call his lawyers.
Call his security team.
Call someone to burn Arthur’s world to the ground.
Instead, Harrison sat perfectly still.
Listening.
His face giving away nothing.
When she finished, he said one word.
“Foolish.”
Victoria blinked.
“Father?”
“You had one job,” he said, his voice like ice. “One simple job. Keep them out. Keep him ignorant. And you couldn’t even do that.”
“He hit me!” Victoria shrieked. “He threw me out of my own house over those brats!”
“Your house?” Harrison stood up slowly. “Nothing in this world is yours unless you have the sense to hold onto it. You let emotion cloud your judgment. You struck the children. You gave him a reason. You made the choice for him.”
“I was scared!” Victoria defended herself. “Maya was looking at me like she knew. Like she had always known. She’s too smart, Father. She’s like Elena was. She sees things.”
Harrison walked to the window.
Stared out at his perfectly manicured lawn.
“Elena,” he said the name like it tasted bad. “That woman has been dead twelve years and she is still causing me problems.”
“What do we do?” Victoria asked. She was begging now. “Arthur knows about the photograph. He’s probably found the journal by now. He knows everything.”
“Not everything,” Harrison said. “He knows the children survived. He knows we lied. He does not know how far we are willing to go to protect what is ours.”
The door opened.
Burke entered.
Harrison’s right hand.
A man who had been with him for thirty years.
A man who had done things that would put most people in prison for life.
And never left a trace.
“Burke,” Harrison said without turning. “We have a situation.”
Burke said nothing.
He simply waited.
Harrison turned around.
“Arthur has discovered the twins are alive.”
Burke’s expression did not change.
“I see.”
“Victoria let emotion get the better of her,” Harrison continued. “She struck the children. Arthur has thrown her out. He knows about the photographs. He may have the journal.”
Burke glanced at Victoria.
Disapproval in his eyes.
Victoria looked away.
“Options?” Harrison asked.
Burke thought for exactly three seconds.
“Three,” he said.
“Present them.”
“Option one: we move fast. File for divorce before he can. Claim spousal abuse. Use the slap. Paint Arthur as violent and unstable. Testify that the children are a bad influence. That he has become obsessed with them. That they are not his. We have the forged death certificates. We have the hospital records. We can make it very difficult for him to prove paternity without a court order. By the time he gets one, we have frozen his assets. Ruined his reputation. Taken the company. He will be in no position to fight for anything.”
Harrison nodded.
“Risk?”
“Arthur has friends. Powerful friends. If he digs deep enough, he might find people who remember. Nurses. Orderlies. People we paid off twelve years ago. Money keeps people quiet for a long time. But not forever. Not when someone is offering them more.”
“Option two,” Burke continued. “We make the children go away. Quietly. A foster care dispute. We have people in the system. Always have. We claim Arthur is unfit. That he kidnapped them. That he is suffering from a delusional breakdown brought on by his unresolved grief over Elena. We get a judge to remove them. Place them somewhere far away. Alaska. Hawaii. Another country. Arthur spends the next ten years trying to find them. By the time he does, they are adults. They don’t know him. They don’t care. The secret dies.”
“Risk?”
“More public. More messy. Children get sympathy. If the press gets wind of it… bad for business. Bad for all of us.”
Harrison’s eyes narrowed.
“And option three?”
Burke’s voice dropped.
“Option three: the children are never found. A tragic accident. On the way to school. A house fire. Something that looks terrible but leaves no loose ends. Arthur breaks. He has nothing left to fight for. We take the company. Victoria gets half. Everyone moves on.”
Victoria gasped.
“Burke! They are just children!”
Burke looked at her coldly.
“They are the reason your life is about to be destroyed. Do you want to be the ex-wife of a man who hates you? Living in a small apartment. Working for a living. Or do you want to be Mrs. Arthur Voss-Carter? Living in the house you deserve. With the money you deserve. With the status you were born to have?”
Victoria said nothing.
She looked at her father.
Harrison was still staring out the window.
“Option three is too risky,” he said finally. “Too many variables. Too many ways it can go wrong. If it comes to that… we will consider it. But not yet.”
He turned back to Burke.
“We do option one and option two at the same time. We hit him from every side. Divorce. Custody. Business. Reputation. We bleed him dry until he has nothing left to fight with. Then we offer him a deal. He gives up the children. He signs over the company. He disappears. And in return, we let him keep enough money to live somewhere quiet. Somewhere far away. Where he can’t cause any more trouble.”
Burke nodded.
“I’ll start tonight.”
“Burke.”
The older man paused at the door.
“Find out exactly what Arthur has. And exactly who he has talked to. If anyone knows anything… handle it. Discreetly.”
Burke left.
Victoria stood up.
Her hands were shaking.
“Father… what if it doesn’t work? What if he wins?”
Harrison walked to his daughter.
He put his hands on her shoulders.
For a moment, he looked almost human.
“Victoria. Listen to me. We have already won. We have the money. We have the lawyers. We have the judges in our pockets. We have spent twelve years building a fortress of lies around this secret. Arthur has two children and the truth. And in this world, my dear… the truth does not stand a chance against money.”
He kissed her forehead.
“Now go upstairs. Wash your face. Fix your makeup. You are a Voss. And Voss women do not look defeated. We look dangerous.”
Victoria left the room.
Harrison returned to his desk.
He opened the bottom drawer.
Reached inside.
Pulled out an old, faded photograph of his own.
Elena.
Smiling.
Young.
Full of life.
He stared at it for a long time.
You should have taken my money and stayed gone, he thought. You and your perfect little family. You forced my hand. All of this is your fault.
He put the photograph back.
Closed the drawer.
Picked up his phone.
Pressed a speed dial number.
“Crawford. It’s Harrison. I need you to prepare the filing. Full divorce. Abuse allegations. Emergency custody of the minor children currently residing at Arthur’s address. Yes. Those children. And Crawford? Make it hurt. I want Arthur Carter to wake up tomorrow morning and realize he has already lost.”
He hung up.
And in the quiet of his study, Harrison Voss smiled.
He had destroyed men far more powerful than Arthur Carter.
He had buried secrets far bigger than two children.
This would be over by the end of the week.
And Arthur Carter would be just another name on the long list of people who had made the mistake of crossing Harrison Voss.
He had no idea that twelve years ago, he had made the biggest mistake of his life.
May you like
He had left two witnesses alive.
And one of them was a twelve-year-old girl who was already smarter than Harrison Voss would ever be.
