Chapter 13 - Victoria Takes the Stand
Victoria's cooperation changed everything.
She provided emails.
Bank records.
Recorded messages.
Draft agreements.
And one handwritten set of notes from Eleanor outlining how control might shift if I became incapacitated.
The notes were clinical.
Cold.
Medical proxy.
Corporate proxy.
Property transfer.
Guardianship.
Reputation management.
I read the page twice.
My life had been reduced to bullet points.
Victoria admitted her role.
She had created invoices for services that never existed.
She had helped route company money.
She had lied to me repeatedly.
But she also provided evidence that Julian authorized the scheme.
Her testimony wasn't heroic.
It wasn't redemption.
It was self-preservation.
And that was fine.
Evidence didn't need noble motives to be useful.
During a deposition, Julian's attorney tried to portray Victoria as an obsessed mistress.
She didn't crumble.
"Did you love Julian?" he asked.
"I thought I did."
"Did you want him to leave his wife?"
"Yes."
"So you had a motive to harm Genevieve."
Victoria paused.
"I already harmed Genevieve."
The room became quiet.
She continued.
"I'm not pretending otherwise."
Even I wasn't prepared for that.
"I slept with her husband. I helped him hide transactions. I walked into her hospital room while she was recovering from childbirth because I thought we had won."
Julian stared at the table.
Victoria looked toward him.
"I was wrong."
The attorney tried another question.
Victoria interrupted.
"Julian didn't lose everything because I betrayed him."
She pointed toward the documents.
"He lost everything because he wrote everything down."
May you like
For once, I almost liked her.
Almost.
