Chapter 12
The meeting happened in Victor’s attorney’s Midtown office.
Serena arrived without her engagement ring.
Adrian sat beside his lawyer.
Lily was not present.
Victor refused to drag her into another room where people debated whether she was trustworthy.
Serena began.
“I never wanted Ethan hurt.”
Victor said nothing.
“I wanted him to stop rejecting me.”
Still nothing.
Serena looked down.
“Every time he ran to Lily, you changed.”
“How?”
“You'd look at me like you'd made a mistake.”
Victor remembered.
Sometimes he had.
“You said the wedding depended on him accepting me.”
“I said he needed to feel safe.”
“You gave me a test I couldn't pass.”
“No.”
Victor leaned forward.
“I gave you words you chose to turn into a test.”
Adrian interrupted.
“She was terrified you'd humiliate her.”
Victor looked at him.
“And you?”
Adrian's jaw tightened.
Victor continued.
“Your company had six Blackwood contracts. The wedding made you family-adjacent. Losing Serena’s engagement meant losing leverage.”
Adrian laughed.
“So this is about money now?”
“It was for you.”
Serena turned toward her brother.
“Stop.”
Adrian ignored her.
“He was never supposed to get hurt.”
Victor looked at him.
There.
Not a confession to causing the fracture.
But an admission that something had been planned.
Serena closed her eyes.
Adrian realized too late.
Victor’s attorney wrote nothing visibly, but everyone in the room understood.
Serena finally spoke.
“We were trying to get him to repeat a few things.”
“What things?”
“That Lily scared him.”
Victor’s face did not change.
“And?”
“That he wanted me.”
“And?”
Serena’s voice became barely audible.
“That he wanted you to marry me.”
Victor leaned back.
The scheme was simpler than he had imagined.
That made it worse.
They were not building some grand conspiracy.
They were trying to force a toddler to say the right sentences until Victor gave them what they wanted.
Then Ethan resisted.
He got hurt.
And Lily became the emergency scapegoat.
Victor stood.
Serena looked up.
“Is that it?”
“No.”
May you like
Victor buttoned his jacket.
“This is where you start telling the same truth when I'm not in the room.”
