Chapter 2 - The Recorded Confession

The drive to Victoria’s gated manor in Oakridge took twenty minutes. The winter rain beat against my windshield in rhythmic, violent bursts, matching the furious pounding of my pulse.
Before I stepped out of the car, I reached into my coat, opened the audio recorder on my iPhone, verified the cloud backup synchronization, and placed the device inside my breast pocket with the microphone angled outward.
I did not knock politely. I pushed open the heavy mahogany front door.
Victoria sat in the grand parlor beside a roaring marble hearth, sipping peppermint tea from a porcelain cup. She was an immaculate woman of sixty-two, wearing a tailored cashmere cardigan, her silver hair styled in pristine waves.
“Clara,” Victoria greeted me with a patronizing sigh. “If you’ve come to lecture me about Elena’s nutrition, save your breath. A child cannot be permitted to gorge on carbohydrates.”
I walked across the Persian rug and stopped three feet from her chair.
“You taped a trash bag to a six-year-old child and beat her with a leather belt, Victoria.”
Victoria didn't blink. She set her teacup down with an elegant clatter and leveled a cold, venomous glare at me.
“Your daughter needs to learn how to control her body before it’s too late!” she snapped. “She ate three shortbread cookies after I explicitly told her lunch was finished. In the Vance family, discipline and physical presentation are non-negotiable. She had to sweat out the water retention.”
“She has linear hematomas across her lumbar spine, Victoria. That is felony child abuse.”
Victoria let out a mocking, high-pitched laugh. “Child abuse? Don't be dramatic, Clara! Julian was raised on the exact same principles, and look at him—successful, handsome, and disciplined. A mother-in-law has the right to correct a undisciplined granddaughter when the mother is too weak to enforce standards.”
“And you think Julian agrees with you?”
“Julian held her shoulders while I applied the belt!” Victoria sneered, leaning forward in her chair. “He knows the stakes! He knows what happens if that girl gains four pounds before next week!”
My hand tightened inside my pocket around the running recorder.
“What happens next week, Victoria?”
Victoria caught herself, her eyes narrowing as she realized she had said too much. Her aristocratic facade snapped back into place.
“That is private family business,” she said coldly. “Now take your common hysteria and get out of my home before I have security remove you.”
May you like
I smiled. A calm, deadly smile.
“Thank you, Victoria. That was everything the District Attorney needed to hear.”