Chapter 11 - The Secret Kept in the Safe
As the police cruisers pulled up the long driveway with their blue and red lights flashing against the mansion’s white pillars, Victoria’s composure shattered completely. Desperate to salvage whatever control she had left, she lunged toward the master study, throwing open the wall safe behind the mahogany painting to grab her passport and a diamond necklace of immense value. But Marcus, anticipating her move, had already locked the study door from the hallway keypad using his override code, trapping her inside with her ill-gotten gains and nowhere to run. Richard stood calmly at the foyer entrance as two police officers stepped inside, led by a detective who had already reviewed the digital evidence sent securely from the tablet. Victoria pounded furiously on the locked study door from the inside, screaming obscenities and demanding they let her out, her pristine socialite image completely demolished by her own frantic desperation. The detective nodded to Richard, acknowledging that they had a rock-solid case for attempted endangerment, falsifying evidence, and malicious prosecution. As the officers approached the study door with a master key, the final chapter of Victoria's reign of terror over the household drew to an inevitable close.
