Chapter 5
Victoria did not deny paying Elena’s medical bills.
She denied the reason.
“I was trying to help.”
Rachel almost laughed.
Dante did not.
They met in Rachel’s office because Dante refused to meet Victoria alone.
“You burned her ultrasound,” he said.
Victoria looked away.
“That happened later.”
“So four months ago you cared about her health?”
“I cared about the baby.”
Dante watched her.
“Why?”
Victoria folded her hands.
“Because I knew it was yours.”
There was something almost worse about that answer.
She had understood exactly what she was hiding.
Victoria admitted she learned about the pregnancy when Preston showed her Elena’s certified letter.
At first, she wanted to tell Dante.
Then Preston convinced her to wait.
“Until when?”
Victoria hesitated.
“After the wedding.”
Dante stared at her.
“Why would the wedding matter?”
She said nothing.
Rachel noticed.
“Victoria.”
“I wanted to be his wife before this became public.”
Elena’s existence threatened more than pride.
Victoria had spent years waiting for Dante to marry her.
She believed a child with another woman would end that possibility.
So she paid Elena’s bills anonymously while Preston kept Elena away.
“I thought if she was taken care of, no one was being abandoned.”
Dante’s voice hardened.
“She thought I rejected my child.”
Victoria’s eyes filled.
“I know.”
“No. You know now.”
Rachel interrupted before the conversation became useless.
“Did you know about the car incident?”
Victoria looked genuinely confused.
“What car incident?”
Dante studied her reaction.
For the first time since the reception, he believed her.
“No.”
“Did Preston ever say Elena had been hurt?”
“No.”
“Did he ever tell you she was dead?”
Victoria’s expression changed.
Not grief.
Recognition.
“He told me she was gone.”
Dante leaned forward.
“When?”
“Six weeks ago.”
The week of the crash.
“What exactly did he say?”
Victoria closed her eyes.
“He said, ‘You can stop worrying. Elena’s gone.’”
Dante and Rachel exchanged a look.
Victoria’s breathing quickened.
“I thought he meant she left Chicago.”
“Why?”
“Because that was what we wanted.”
Dante stood.
Victoria looked up at him.
“We?”
Her face tightened.
She had corrected herself too late.
The hidden truth was no longer that Victoria knew.
May you like
It was that she and Preston had been working together from the beginning.
The question was whether they had wanted the same outcome.
