Chapter 7 - THE RECORDING VICTORIA WANTED
Victoria chose a motel outside Milwaukee.
Megan refused to let Sarah go alone.
They arrived with a private investigator and two attorneys.
Victoria opened the door wearing sweatpants.
No makeup.
No arrogance.
Her hair was still perfect.
Sarah hated herself for noticing.
Victoria looked at Sarah's shaved head.
For the first time she appeared ashamed.
Sarah did not care.
“You have three minutes.”
Victoria nodded.
“My father built Crown.”
“Four seconds wasted.”
“He used me as nominee.”
“You accepted twenty-three million dollars.”
“I moved it where he told me.”
“You forged my signature.”
Victoria looked at the floor.
“Yes.”
Megan said:
“Anything you say may be discoverable.”
“I know.”
Sarah felt rage rise.
“You entered my house.”
“Yes.”
“You copied my credentials.”
“Yes.”
“You shaved my head.”
Victoria's face tightened.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Silence.
Sarah stepped closer.
“Why?”
“Because Richard wanted a recording.”
Sarah froze.
Victoria explained.
Richard knew Sarah had begun questioning Crown.
Julian had already drafted divorce papers.
The plan was to provoke Sarah into threatening Victoria inside Halcyon's executive office.
Audio would be leaked.
Julian could then argue Sarah was unstable and dangerous.
A family-court fight might temporarily restrict Sarah's authority over JSM.
“Why disable the camera?”
“Because video would show what I did first.”
Sarah stared.
The cruelty was strategic.
Not entirely.
Victoria looked away.
“The shaving wasn't his idea.”
“Whose?”
“Mine.”
There it was.
The part that belonged only to Victoria.
“I hated you.”
Sarah laughed quietly.
“You didn't know me.”
“I knew how Julian talked about you.”
“And you believed him.”
“I wanted to.”
Victoria admitted jealousy.
Julian still kept photographs of Sarah in his desk.
Still called Sarah first when his father died.
Still returned home some nights.
Victoria wanted to destroy the version of Sarah she imagined lived inside Julian's head.
So she chose Sarah's hair.
Something Julian once loved.
“You wanted to mark me.”
Victoria's eyes filled.
“Yes.”
Sarah felt no satisfaction in the confession.
Only disgust.
“Did Julian know what you planned?”
“No.”
“Did he know Richard wanted the recording?”
“No.”
That did not absolve Julian's response afterward.
He had walked in.
Seen the result.
Chosen Victoria.
Victoria produced an audio file.
The complete office recording.
Her own concealed recorder.
It captured more than Sarah's screams.
Before Sarah arrived, Richard had called Victoria.
His voice was clear.
“Get her angry. We need something a judge can understand in ten seconds.”
Then Victoria asked:
“What if Julian stops me?”
Richard laughed.
“He won't.”
Sarah listened twice.
The second time hurt more.
Richard understood Julian perfectly.
He knew his protégé would protect comfort over truth.
Megan took custody of the file.
“You're going to federal authorities.”
Victoria nodded.
“You're going to return the money.”
“I can't.”
“Why?”
Victoria looked terrified.
“Because I don't have it.”
Sarah frowned.
“The accounts were drained.”
“My father moved it.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
Victoria opened her laptop.
“There is one thing I do know.”
Project Crown's inflated purchase price was not merely designed to enrich Richard.
The acquired company held a database.
A database Richard desperately wanted buried.
Sarah asked:
“What was in it?”
Victoria rotated the screen.
Thousands of internal Halcyon files.
Emails.
Payment records.
Safety reports.
And a folder labeled:
MERCER LIABILITY.
Victoria whispered:
May you like
“My father wasn't buying Veyron Data.”
“He was buying evidence.”
