Chapter 4 - THE HOUSE THAT WAS NEVER THEIRS
Victor returned to the Grand Oak Plaza the next morning.
The ballroom had been cleared.
The flowers were gone.
The birthday cake had been thrown away.
Only a faint smell of champagne remained.
Maris sat in a private suite.
She wore a silk robe.
Her pearls lay on the table.
When Victor entered, she looked up.
“Where have you been?”
He stared.
“With my wife and daughter.”
Her expression tightened.
“Victor—”
“Don't.”
She went silent.
He placed Catherine's letter on the table.
Then the bank statements.
Thirty-six transfers.
Fifty thousand dollars each.
One million eight hundred thousand dollars.
“Where is it?”
Maris looked away.
“I managed it.”
“For whom?”
“For the family.”
Victor laughed bitterly.
“My daughter was searching through garbage.”
Maris flinched.
He stepped closer.
“My wife was working fourteen-hour shifts.”
She looked down.
“And you spent nearly two million dollars?”
Maris's expression hardened.
“I protected you.”
Victor stared.
“From what?”
“From Catherine.”
Silence.
Maris continued.
“She was never suitable for you.”
Victor felt cold.
“She was my wife.”
“She came from nothing.”
“She built a life with me.”
“She didn't understand our world.”
Victor stared.
Then said quietly:
“Neither do you.”
Maris looked shocked.
He continued.
“Because in my world, children don't go hungry while their grandmother wears diamonds.”
Maris stood.
“Everything I've done was for this family.”
Victor shook his head.
“No.”
His voice hardened.
“You did it for control.”
Maris stared.
Then whispered:
“You don't know what Catherine was hiding.”
Victor stopped.
“What?”
His mother looked toward the window.
“Your wife had documents.”
Victor frowned.
“What documents?”
“About your father's company.”
Silence.
Victor's father, Edward Williams, had died five years earlier.
He'd built Silverspring Development from a small construction firm into a real estate empire.
Victor had inherited the business.
Maris had retained influence through family trusts.
Victor stared.
“What documents?”
Maris hesitated.
Then said:
“She accused your father of stealing land.”
Victor felt the room tilt.
“What?”
Maris looked at him.
“She wanted to ruin everything.”
Victor stepped back.
He remembered Catherine working in the company's legal department before Annie was born.
She'd reviewed property records.
Contracts.
Development permits.
Then she'd suddenly resigned.
At the time, she'd said she wanted to focus on their daughter.
Now he wondered whether that had been the whole truth.
Victor looked at Maris.
“What did she find?”
His mother said nothing.
He took a breath.
“Mom.”
She looked at him.
“What did Catherine discover?”
Maris's face turned pale.
May you like
Then she whispered:
“Something your father should have taken to his grave.”
