Chapter 9 - The Mask Slips
Back at the main house, Victoria sensed that something was fundamentally wrong. The house was too quiet, Richard had been missing from his study for hours, and her repeated calls to his cell phone went straight to voicemail. Pacing across the marble foyer in her designer heels, her facade of calm elegance began to crack, revealing the frantic, controlling narcissist underneath. When the front door finally swung open, it wasn't just Richard who walked in; Elena stood beside him, flanked by Marcus, who held a digital recorder in his hand. Victoria’s eyes widened in sudden, unmitigated horror as she looked from Elena to her husband's ice-cold, devastated expression. Richard didn't raise his voice; his tone was dangerously quiet, cutting through the vast foyer like a razor blade as he asked her how she could have endangered their child just to ruin an innocent girl's life out of petty jealousy. Victoria’s breath hitched, her initial impulse to lie crumbling as she saw the tablet screen in Richard’s hand displaying the undeniable video footage. Realizing her web of lies had completely unraveled, her expression shifted in a fraction of a second from panic to a chilling, defiant sneer.
