Chapter 6 - THE CALL FROM THE JAILHOUSE
The telephone on Victoria's desk rang loudly,
shattering the tense silence that had settled between them.
Victoria picked up the receiver with a shaking hand,
her voice steadying into steel.
"Victoria Vance speaking,"
she said coldly into the mouthpiece.
"Victoria,
it's me,"
Julian's voice pleaded from the other end of the line.
He was calling from the county jail,
his usual arrogance replaced by desperate whining.
"How dare you call me,"
Victoria hissed,
her anger flaring up like wildfire.
"You tried to murder me,
Julian!"
"Please,
listen to me,
sweetheart,"
Julian begged,
his voice cracking through the static.
"I was forced to do it,
you have to believe me!"
"Forced by whom?"
Victoria demanded,
ignoring his pathetic terms of endearment.
"Your uncle,
Arthur!"
Julian shouted,
revealing the truth in a fit of panic.
"He has my sister,
Victoria!"
"He threatened to kill her if I didn't eliminate you and secure the money!"
Victoria looked at Clara,
who was listening closely to the conversation.
The plot was turning into a nightmare of blackmail and human trafficking.
"Why should I believe a word you say?"
Victoria questioned,
her trust completely obliterated.
"Check the ledger,"
Julian urged desperately.
"Look at the entry for November fourteenth."
"It proves he paid off the prison guards to release a hitman."
"If you don't help me get out,
Arthur will kill my sister and then come for you!"
The line suddenly went dead,
leaving Victoria with a haunting dial tone.
She quickly flipped open the ledger,
searching for the date Julian had mentioned.
There,
written in black ink,
was a payment of fifty thousand dollars to a corrupt warden.
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The danger was escalating,
and time was running out for everyone involved.
