Chapter 9
Victoria asked to speak with me alone.
I refused.
Not because I feared her.
Because privacy had been part of the architecture.
Maria did not attend.
Neither did Noah.
Only Dante—my security chief—and one neutral capo.
Victoria looked at the witnesses.
“You don’t trust me.”
“No.”
Simple.
Her eyes filled.
“I loved you.”
“I know.”
“Past tense?”
“Yes.”
That hurt.
It should.
She looked down at her engagement ring.
“I never planned to hurt Noah.”
I stared.
“You ripped his hearing aid out.”
“Tonight.”
Interesting distinction.
Before tonight, she had only controlled access to it.
She heard herself.
Her face changed.
“I mean physically.”
“No.”
I leaned forward.
“You wanted him dependent on you for what he heard.”
Silence.
That was the truth she had avoided.
When Noah’s batteries died, Victoria decided when replacements appeared.
When the device came off, she decided which conversations continued.
She liked the control.
Maybe not at first.
But eventually.
“Why?”
She cried quietly.
“Because he never needed me.”
There.
Emotional truth.
“Noah needed Maria.”
“Yes.”
“His father.”
“Yes.”
“Memories of Isabella.”
Her face tightened.
“Yes.”
“And you wanted a role no one else already had.”
“I wanted to be his mother.”
“You wanted the title.”
Her eyes flashed.
“That’s cruel.”
“No.”
I held her gaze.
“Cruel was punishing a child because affection did not arrive on your schedule.”
Silence.
She wiped her face.
“Marcus said if Maria left, Noah would attach to me.”
There it was.
The household strategy had a personal motive too.
Marcus wanted Maria gone because she disrupted his information system.
Victoria wanted Maria gone because Noah trusted her.
Each gave the other a reason.
“What about the lake house?”
Victoria looked away.
“I told myself it would be temporary.”
“How long?”
“Three months.”
My chest tightened.
“You were sending my son away for three months before marrying me?”
“With Maria.”
As if that helped.
“Why Maria too?”
Her voice broke.
“Because otherwise he wouldn’t go.”
Exactly.
She needed Noah’s safe person to make the removal possible.
Then later?
Maria could be transferred elsewhere.
Victoria would visit.
Gradually become central.
A child’s attachment reorganized like furniture.
I looked at the ring again.
“Take it off.”
May you like
Her hand froze.
This time the symbol had earned its moment.
