Chapter 7 - Victor's ConfessionVictor Hale entered the house like a ghost returning to the scene of an old crime.
Margaret backed away from him.
“You were supposed to be dead.”
Victor gave a bitter smile.
“So was Thomas.”
Daniel stared at him.
“You were the man from the pictures.”
“Yes.”
“You were there that night.”
“Yes.”
I held the envelope.
“What is inside?”
“Proof.”
“Proof of what?”
“That your father did not die the way they said he did.”
Margaret shook her head.
“Don't listen to him.”
Victor looked at her.
“Still protecting yourself after all these years?”
“You don't know what happened.”
“I know exactly what happened.”
Richard stepped forward.
“Tell us.”
Victor looked at me.
“Your father knew Margaret was stealing from the family business.”
“She wasn't working alone.”
“No.”
“Who else?”
Victor looked toward Richard.
“Your brother Peter.”
Richard's face hardened.
Victor continued.
“They created accounts nobody could trace.”
“And my father found them.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“They tried to threaten him.”
“But he refused.”
Victor nodded.
“So Margaret asked me to frighten him.”
My stomach turned.
“What did you do?”
“I followed him.”
“To the accident?”
“Yes.”
“But you didn't kill him.”
“No.”
“Who did?”
Victor hesitated.
Then he looked at Daniel.
“Someone else arrived.”
Daniel's breathing stopped.
“Who?”
“Your grandfather.”
Richard's face drained.
“My father?”
Victor nodded.
“He came because Thomas had proof.”
“What proof?”
“Documents tying him to the accounts.”
Richard looked stunned.
“My father died years ago.”
“He died knowing Thomas could destroy everything.”
I shook my head.
“Why did you let him live?”
Victor looked at me.
“Because Thomas offered me something.”
“What?”
“Protection.”
“For what?”
Victor slowly reached into his pocket.
“A confession.”
He handed me a cassette.
Another one.
My fingers trembled.
“He recorded everything.”
Richard's jaw tightened.
“Why didn't you release it?”
Victor smiled sadly.
“Because Margaret found me first.”
Margaret whispered:
“You promised.”
Victor looked at her.
“I promised to disappear.”
Then he turned to me.
“I kept the promise.”
I looked at the envelope.
“What happened after the crash?”
Victor answered.
“Thomas survived.”
My chest tightened.
“Then who said he was dead?”
Margaret closed her eyes.
I turned toward her.
“You lied.”
She whispered:
“He was alive.”
“You knew?”
She nodded.
“Why?”
“Because he was going to destroy us.”
Richard stepped toward her.
“You let him die.”
Margaret cried.
“I didn't touch him.”
“But you left him there.”
“I was scared.”
Victor interrupted.
“You were not scared.”
He looked at me.
“You were calculating.”
Margaret's face crumpled.
Daniel stood motionless.
“What about me?”
Victor looked at him.
“You were there.”
“I remember the crash.”
“No.”
Victor shook his head.
“You remember what they let you remember.”
Daniel frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Victor looked at me.
“The night Thomas died, Daniel saw something he was never supposed to see.”
“What?”
“The person who pulled Thomas out of the car.”
I waited.
Victor whispered:
“Richard.”
Richard froze.
I stared at my father-in-law.
“You?”
Richard's voice broke.
“I was there.”
“Why didn't you save him?”
Richard looked at me.
“Because by the time I arrived, he was already dying.”
Victor shook his head.
“No.”
Richard turned.
Victor's voice hardened.
“Thomas was alive when you arrived.”
Silence.
Richard's eyes filled with tears.
“I didn't know what to do.”
“You chose your family.”
Victor's next words landed like a knife.
“And that choice is why Emily's father spent his final minutes begging you to protect his daughter.”
I looked at Richard.
“Did he?”
Richard nodded.
Then he said:
“He gave me one last instruction.”
“What?”
Richard looked at me.
“Never let Margaret know the house had been transferred to you.”
My stomach dropped.
“Why?”
“Because he knew she would eventually try to take it.”
Victor stepped closer.
“And she did.”
Suddenly, every humiliating dinner, every insult, every attempt to make me feel worthless took on a different meaning.
Margaret didn't hate me because I was an imperfect wife.
She feared me.
Because my name was on the house.
And she had spent twenty-seven years trying to make sure I never discovered it.
Then Victor looked at Daniel.
“There is one final secret.”
Daniel swallowed.
“What?”
Victor said:
“You were the one who told Thomas where the documents were hidden.”
Daniel's eyes widened.
“I was sixteen.”
“Yes.”
“You helped him?”
May you like
Victor nodded.
“And that is why your mother has been afraid of you remembering.”
