Part 4
The rain began to pour just as the black sedan pulled up to the heavy concrete walls of the detention center. The atmosphere inside the visitor's room was bleak, smelling faintly of industrial bleach and old iron.
Alexander sat behind the scratched plexiglass window, his hands folded, waiting. When the heavy metal door clicked open, Victoria walked in, handcuffed and wearing a drab orange jumpsuit. The contrast between this version of her and the woman in the shimmering silk dress from three weeks ago was staggering. Her hair was messy, and dark circles hollowed her eyes, but when she saw Alexander, a sharp, bitter smile touched her lips.
She picked up the plastic telephone receiver. Alexander did the same.
"You look terrible, Alexander," Victoria whispered, her voice crackling through the static of the line. "Did you finally read my note?"
"Who gave you the signal jammer, Victoria?" Alexander asked, cutting straight through the pleasantries. His voice was a flat, dangerous monotone. "And don't lie to me. I have the prison phone logs. I know someone else helped you plan it."
Victoria laughed, a harsh sound that ended in a cough. "Do you really think I care about prison rules anymore? Your lawyers have ruined my family. We have nothing left. But if you think I’m going down alone, you’re mistaken."
"Give me a name, and I can make sure your family’s debt disappears," Alexander bartered coldly. "Otherwise, I will ensure your trial is fast, public, and merciless."
Victoria leaned closer to the glass, her eyes wide and frantic. "You still don't get it, do you? You think your mother is an innocent victim. Ask her about the Crescent Project, Alexander. Ask her why she was carrying a black flash drive in her clutch that night."
Alexander’s brow furrowed. "The Crescent Project was shut down by my father ten years ago."
"Shut down? No. It was hidden," Victoria hissed. "Your mother wasn't trying to protect you from me. She was trying to smuggle the original financial ledgers out of the house because she knew the board directors were coming for them. I wasn't just trying to get rid of a mother-in-law, Alex. I was hired to retrieve that drive. But I panicked, and I pushed her."
She leaned back, her smile returning, though it looked more like a grimace. "Your father didn't die of a heart attack, Alexander. And if your mother doesn't hand over that drive, she's going to suffer the exact same fate—even inside your precious, high-security fortress."
Before Alexander could speak, the guard stepped forward, tapping Victoria on the shoulder to signal that her time was up. She stood up, letting the receiver dangle from its metal cord.
"Check her safe, Alexander," Victoria’s voice was faint through the glass as she was led away. "Check the lining of the purse she wore that night."
The ride back to the estate was a blur of flashing streetlights and pouring rain. Alexander didn't wait for the driver to open his door. He stormed into the house, bypassing the grand staircase, and went straight into his mother’s room.
Evelyn was sitting up in bed, sipping hot tea, looking more vibrant than she had in weeks. She smiled warmly as he entered. "Alex, you're back late. Is everything alright?"
Alexander didn't answer. He walked over to the closet, pulled out the velvet-lined box where the police had returned his mother's belongings from the night of the accident, and grabbed the blood-stained silver clutch.
With a pocket knife from his desk, he sliced open the silk inner lining.
A small, matte-black flash drive slid out onto the bedsheet.
May you like
Evelyn’s smile instantly vanished, the warmth in her eyes replaced by a sudden, terrifying coldness.
"Alexander," his mother said, her voice dropping to a register he had never heard before. "Put that back. You have no idea what you've just uncovered."
