Nathan came home early and found his wife raising a hockey stick over the child who secretly carried his blood.

The jail visiting room smelled of disinfectant and stale coffee. Fluorescent lights hummed overhead. Victoria sat behind thick glass, wearing an orange jumpsuit, her hair pulled back harshly. She looked smaller than I remembered. Defeated. Hollow-eyed.

She picked up the phone.

"You came," she said flatly. "To gloat. To tell me I've lost everything."

"I came to give you a choice," I said, picking up my own receiver. "Arthur is going to let you take the fall. He arranged it that way from the beginning."

Victoria stiffened. "That's a lie. He has lawyers working on my release right now. He told me—"

"He told you exactly what you needed to hear so you would do his dirty work," I cut in. "He sent you to my house knowing there was a very good chance you would get caught. And if you did? You would take the blame alone. Arthur would walk away clean. And once you were in prison... he would arrange for you to have an unfortunate accident too."

Victoria went very still. Her fingers tightened around the phone.

"He is my uncle."

"He is a man who killed his own business partner to steal money," I said. "He killed Elena to keep her quiet. And he was fully prepared to let you murder Grace and Lily and then conveniently 'discover' you had gone mad and taken your own life. One loose end neatly tied."

I slid copies of my father's journal pages through the slot. Victoria picked them up. Her eyes moved across the handwriting. Slowly at first. Then faster. Her face paled with every line.

When she finished reading, she looked up at me with horror dawning in her eyes.

"He killed your father?"

"And Elena," I said. "And he was going to kill you. Victoria... Arthur doesn't care about you. He never did. You were a tool. A convenient relative he could use to get to my money. And the moment you became inconvenient... he would have discarded you."

Victoria sat back. She dropped the papers on the counter. Her face crumpled.

"He told me Elena ran away," she whispered. "He told me your father died peacefully. He said... he said he was protecting me from the truth."

"He was using you to hide his crimes," I said. "And last night, did you hear from him? Did his lawyer visit? Did he send one single message asking how you are?"

Victoria looked down at her hands. Tears dripped onto the orange fabric.

"No," she admitted quietly. "Nothing."

"Because Arthur already wrote you off," I said. "You failed. You got caught. And now you are a liability he intends to eliminate before you can talk."

Victoria looked up sharply. Fear flashed in her eyes.

"Eliminate?"

"He will arrange for someone to reach you in here," I said. "To make certain you never speak to anyone. To make certain you take every secret to your grave."

Victoria gripped the phone with trembling hands. She stared at me for a long time, searching my face for any sign of a lie. Then she looked again at the journal pages. At my father's handwriting. At the dates. The names. The threats.

"What do you want?" she whispered finally.

"Testify against him," I said. "Tell us everything. Every instruction. Every payment. Every time he told you what to do. If you help us bring him down... I will speak to the judge. I will tell them Arthur manipulated you from the beginning. That you were terrified. That you acted under his orders. We can get your sentence reduced. Maybe even transferred to a witness protection program where Arthur can never find you."

Victoria hesitated. Her jaw tightened.

"And if I don't?"

"Then Arthur kills you," I said plainly. "And then he kills Grace. And then he kills Lily. And then he kills me. And he walks away with everything. That is the future you are choosing if you protect him."

Victoria closed her eyes. Her shoulders shook. When she opened them again, there was no defiance left. Only a terrible, broken resignation.

"He told me to destroy any proof," she whispered. "He said if I found letters or documents... I was to burn them immediately. He said your father had written things that could be misinterpreted. That they meant nothing."

"They mean everything," I said. "And there is more. Arthur kept records. Payments. Instructions. Names of people on his payroll. Witnesses he has bought. I need to know where he hides them."

Victoria hesitated. Fear warring with desperation.

"He keeps a locked filing cabinet in his private study," she said, voice dropping so low I had to strain to hear. "Behind the bookshelf. False back. Key hangs on his watch chain. Everything is there. Every receipt. Every letter. Every instruction he ever sent me. Copies."

My heart raced.

"You never told anyone this?"

"He told me if I breathed a word... I would regret it," Victoria whispered. "He said the records were insurance. To protect both of us. But now... I see. They were insurance for him alone. To destroy me if I ever stepped out of line."

"One more thing," I said. "Does he have contacts inside this jail? People he pays?"

Victoria nodded slowly.

"Two guards. Shift rotation. Night shift. Names on the list inside the cabinet. Nathan... please. Get me out of here before they get to me."

"I will arrange protective custody immediately," I said. "No one touches you. Not until Arthur is behind bars."

She leaned forward, tears streaming freely now.

"I didn't know," she said. "I truly didn't know he was capable of... all of this. I thought I was protecting our future. I thought Elena was dangerous. I thought Lily was a mistake that would ruin everything."

"Arthur told you exactly what you wanted to hear," I said. "He exploited your insecurity. Your jealousy. Your desire to be accepted. He used you, Victoria. Just like he used everyone else."

She wiped at her face with shaking hands.

"I will testify. I will tell them everything. Every meeting. Every payment. Every threat. Just... make certain he never touches me again."

"You have my word," I said.

I hung up the phone and stood up to leave. But before I walked away, Victoria spoke one last time. Soft enough that I almost missed it.

"I saw his face when he spoke of Lily once," she whispered. "He said that child is the only thing standing between him and what is rightfully his. And that one way or another... that obstacle would be removed."

I froze.

"When did he say that?"

"Three days ago," Victoria said. "Right before I came to your house. He told me to handle it. Because he was leaving town. And when he came back... he expected the problem to be gone."

My blood turned to ice.

Three days ago. Arthur had known exactly what would happen. He had sent Victoria. And then he had vanished.

"Where is he?" I demanded. "Victoria, where did he go?"

She shook her head helplessly.

"He wouldn't say. Only that he would be unreachable. And that if things went wrong... he already had a backup plan in motion."

I walked out of the jail with my head spinning. Arthur wasn't sitting at home waiting for us. He was gone. And he had left a backup plan.

I called my security chief immediately.

"Where is Arthur Sterling?" I asked the moment he answered.

Silence on the other end. Then his voice, grim and tight.

"We don't know, sir. His house is empty. His office is locked. And... someone just tried to break into the safe house. Twice in the last hour. We held them off. But they knew exactly where to look."

I stopped walking. The world tilted.