Chapter 2: The Vial That Could Destroy Us Both
Elena moved first.
“Call emergency services,” she ordered one of the guards.
“Tell them we have a near-drowning victim who needs immediate assessment.””
Victoria snapped her head toward her.
“You don't take orders from anyone but me.””
“I take orders from the person responsible for keeping people alive when they're in danger,” Elena replied.
“Your contract says otherwise.””
“My conscience doesn't.””
For several seconds, the two women faced each other beneath the brilliant afternoon sun.
Then Elena pulled out her phone.
Victoria's lips thinned.
“Remember who pays your salary.””
Elena began dialing.
“Remember who was standing beside the pool when Emma went under.””
Marcus jerked against the guards.
“Let me go! Elena, get that vial away from my mother!””
Victoria turned toward him with a look of theatrical disappointment.
“Marcus, listen to yourself. You're hysterical.””
“My fiancée nearly died!””
“And now she's holding a suspicious object while accusing her future mother-in-law. Do you understand how that looks?””
Emma pushed herself upright.
Her arm trembled, but her voice was steady enough to carry.
“She gave it to me.””
Victoria's eyes flicked toward the guests.
“Emma is disoriented.””
“She told me to drink it.””
“Because you were panicking.””
“You threatened Marcus with prison.””
Victoria's smile vanished.
A murmur spread through the crowd.
Marcus stared at his mother.
“What did you say to her?””
Victoria straightened the cuff of her cream dress.
“Nothing that concerns you.””
“Everything that happens to Emma concerns me.””
“That's precisely the problem,” Victoria said.
“You've always mistaken obsession for loyalty.””
Marcus went quiet.
Emma knew that expression. She had seen it only twice during their three years together: once when Marcus learned that his father had died, and once when he found an unsigned letter hidden in his father's desk.
Both times, Marcus had looked as though someone had reached inside his chest and rearranged everything.
Victoria had learned to use that look against him.
She was doing it again.
The guards loosened their grip when Elena approached, phone pressed to her ear.
“Dispatch, this is Elena Ruiz at the Cross residence. We have an adult female recovering from a near-drowning. Possible exposure to an unknown substance. We need an ambulance and police assistance.””
Victoria stepped toward her.
“Cancel that.””
Elena covered the phone.
“No.””
“You are making a serious mistake.””
“Then I'll explain it to the police.””
Victoria glanced at the guests. Several had already raised their phones, recording the confrontation.
For the first time, the matriarch appeared to understand that the afternoon was slipping beyond her control.
She turned back to Emma.
“Give me the vial.””
Emma shook her head.
“Why?””
“Because you don't understand what you're holding.””
“Then explain it.””
Victoria lowered her voice.
“Your father understood.””
Emma's fingers went numb.
“My father?””
Marcus stopped struggling.
“What does Richard Vance have to do with this?””
Victoria studied Emma's face, apparently searching for the exact amount of fear she needed.
“Ask your father why he disappeared from our lives after my husband died.””
Emma swallowed.
Her father, Richard, had left their family home when she was sixteen. He had never been accused of a crime, but he had spent years refusing to discuss the Cross family. Whenever Emma asked about her father's former business partnership with Marcus's father, Daniel Cross, Richard became silent.
Once, when Emma was twenty-one, she had found him burning a stack of old letters in the backyard.
He had told her that some people were safer forgotten.
She had thought he was protecting her from a painful memory.
Now she wasn't sure.
Marcus stared at Victoria.
“Dad died in an accident.””
“That's what the report says.””
“You signed the settlement.””
“I signed many things after your father died.””
“And you never told me about Richard.””
Victoria's voice sharpened.
“Because I was protecting you.””
“From what?””
She looked at Emma.
“From her family.””
Emma's throat tightened.
She wanted to deny it. She wanted to tell Marcus that her father had nothing to do with the woman who had just tried to control them both.
But the vial was cold in her hand, and Victoria had said Richard's name too deliberately.
“Mrs. Cross,” Elena said, ending the call, “the ambulance is on its way.””
Victoria turned toward the security chief.
“You're finished here.””
“Then fire me.””
“You'll never work in private security again.””
Elena's mouth twitched without becoming a smile.
“Maybe. But I'll be able to sleep tonight.””
She crouched beside Emma.
“Don't drink anything. Keep the vial exactly as it is. Tell the paramedics what happened.””
Emma nodded.
Marcus finally pulled one arm free when the guard nearest him released his grip.
He hurried to Emma and knelt beside her.
“Are you hurt?””
“My arm is scraped.””
“Anywhere else?””
“I'm cold.””
He took off his wet jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders, though his own shirt was soaked.
“I'm sorry,” he whispered.
Emma looked at him.
“For what?””
“For bringing you here. For letting her get close to you.””
“You didn't make her do this.””
“I should have seen it coming.””
Emma almost reached for his face, but stopped when she noticed the phone in the third guard's hand.
His father's phone.
The guard had placed it on a small outdoor table beside the champagne glasses.
Marcus rose slowly.
“Bring it to me.””
Victoria stepped in front of the table.
“No.””
“It's my father's phone.””
“It's evidence in a private family dispute.””
“Then let the police decide that.””
Victoria gave him a cold look.
“You want to know what happened to Daniel? Fine. Ask your fiancée why her father was the last person to see him alive.””
Emma felt as if the patio had tilted beneath her.
Marcus turned toward her.
“Emma?””
“I didn't know.””
“Did your father know my dad?””
“Yes,” Emma whispered.
“They worked together. Before I was born.””
“What else didn't you tell me?””
“Nothing. Marcus, I swear.””
Victoria picked up the phone.
“Perhaps you should hear the recording before you decide whom to believe.””
She tapped the screen.
A man's voice crackled through the tiny speaker.
Daniel Cross sounded exhausted, his breathing uneven.
“Victoria, I know about the transfers. The accounts don't match. If Marcus finds out—”
A sharp noise interrupted him.
Then Daniel spoke again.
“Richard, please. You have to help me.””
The recording ended.
Marcus stared at the phone.
“Play it again.””
Victoria slipped the device into her handbag.
“Not here.””
“You can't do that!””
“I can do whatever is necessary to protect this family.””
She looked at Emma.
“Even from the people who marry into it.””
The ambulance siren sounded in the distance.
Elena moved between Victoria and Emma, refusing to let the older woman approach again.
As the paramedics entered through the garden gates, Emma carefully slipped the vial into the inner pocket of Marcus's jacket.
She didn't know what it contained.
She only knew that Victoria wanted it back.
And that was reason enough to preserve it.
But as the paramedics helped Emma onto a stretcher, Marcus caught her hand.
“Tell me the truth,” he said quietly.
“Did your father ever mention my dad's death?””
Emma looked into his eyes.
She could have said no.
It would have been easy.
Instead, she remembered the one sentence Richard had whispered when she first told him she was dating Marcus.
If you love that boy, never let his mother know what you found.
Emma squeezed Marcus's hand.
“There's something I need to tell you.””
Before she could continue, Victoria called from the patio.
“Marcus, don't let her manipulate you. Your father left a second recording.””
Marcus turned.
May you like
Victoria held up a second phone.
“And in that one,” she said, “your fiancée's father confesses to murder.””
