CHAPTER 10: Security Was Called
Victoria tried to leave.
She moved toward the side doors with the speed of someone who understood that power had slipped out of her hands. But the same security guards she had ordered to remove Lily now blocked her path.
“Move,” she snapped.
They did not.
Daniel stepped beside his father. His face was pale, his jaw tight. He had spent years believing his sister abandoned the family willingly. He had judged her in silence. He had allowed Victoria to speak of Clara as unstable, selfish, and ungrateful.
Now shame sat heavy on his shoulders.
“Victoria,” he said, “where did the trust money go?”
She turned on him. “You think I owe you answers in front of waiters and strangers?”
“You owe answers to a child you tried to throw out.”
Lily pressed closer to Samuel, frightened by the voices. Edward saw it and forced himself to lower his tone.
He looked at the head of security. “Call the police. Then call my attorney. Then lock every office in this hotel.”
Victoria laughed again, but now it sounded broken. “You cannot arrest me at a charity gala.”
“No,” Edward said. “The police can.”
A guest near the front raised her phone. Another lowered hers, ashamed. Reporters who had come to photograph gowns and donation checks began recording the collapse of an empire.
Samuel’s strength failed suddenly. He swayed.
Lily grabbed his sleeve. “Uncle Sam?”
He tried to smile. “I’m all right, little bird.”
But he was not all right. He had spent years hiding, working cash jobs, sleeping in shelters, and moving Lily whenever Victoria’s men got too close. He had spent his life being called a thief to protect a child who did not even carry his blood.
Edward stepped toward him.
May you like
“Samuel,” he said, voice raw, “I should have looked harder.”
Samuel shook his head. “Just look now.”
