Chapter 18 - THE WHISPER IN THE AIR DUCT
Victoria didn't notice the fracture beneath her feet. Her focus was entirely on Claire, intoxicated by the desperate terror in Claire’s eyes.
"You think your mother was a saint?" Victoria hissed, her fingers digging tighter into Noah’s jacket. "Rachel was weak. She had Daniel’s fortune, his name, this legacy, and she wasted it writing cheap exposés for twenty thousand a year. She didn't deserve any of this. I built Daniel's commercial division. I earned my seat at this table!"
"You didn't earn anything," Claire said, taking a microscopic step to the left, angling away from the weak center of the ice. "You slipped poison into her chamomile tea every Thursday when you brought the invoices. You waited until her balance gave out, and then you nudged her down twelve concrete steps."
Victoria tilted her head, a cold, sickening smile curving her lips. "A nudge? No, Claire. She fell on her own. I simply watched her crawl at the bottom of the stairs for twenty minutes while she begged me to call 911. That was the best part. Watching her realize that no one was coming."
Suddenly, a loud crack split the silence.
It wasn't the ice.
It was the distinctive sound of a high-powered police taser discharging.
From the tree line behind Victoria, Detective Miller stepped forward from the brush, two armed officers flanking him with rifles drawn. Behind them, Daniel stood leaning against a tree trunk, pale but standing, his phone raised high.
On Daniel’s screen, a live audio feed to the county dispatch was glowing green. Every single word Victoria had just uttered had been broadcast directly into the police communications network and recorded on the county server.
May you like
Victoria’s eyes widened in blinding panic. She realized the trap had closed.
***
