Chapter 2 - VICTORIA WANTED HIM TO SEE LEAH ON HER KNEES
Ethan replayed the footage.
Again.
Victoria pouring the wine.
Again.
Leah backing away.
Again.
Victoria pointing to the floor.
Again.
Leah kneeling.
Ethan looked at Victoria.
“You wanted me to see her like that.”
Victoria folded her arms.
“That is ridiculous.”
Ethan looked back at the screen.
“No.”
His voice stayed cold.
“You looked directly into the camera.”
Silence.
That was the first crack.
The security technician restored the audio.
Victoria’s face changed immediately.
Too late.
The recording began.
Leah’s voice:
“I finished the upstairs rooms.”
Victoria answered,
“Good.”
Then:
“Stay.”
Leah stopped.
Victoria picked up the bottle.
Poured the wine deliberately.
Leah gasped.
“What are you doing?”
Victoria replied,
“Giving Ethan something to come home to.”
The foyer went dead.
Ethan stared at her.
Victoria said nothing.
The recording continued.
Leah asked,
“Why?”
Victoria smiled.
“Because by the time he gets here, I need him to see exactly what I need him to see.”
That was the second crack.
Ethan’s face hardened.
“What did you need me to see?”
Victoria did not answer.
The recording did.
Victoria pointed at the floor.
“Kneel.”
Leah shook her head.
“No.”
Victoria stepped closer.
Leah backed away.
Her shoulder touched the console.
She stumbled.
No assault.
No attack.
Just fear.
Then Victoria said,
“You can clean the wine, or Ethan can hear that you stole from him.”
Leah froze.
Present-day Ethan did too.
“What did she accuse you of stealing?”
Leah looked down.
“I don’t know.”
Victoria immediately said,
“She’s lying.”
Wrong move.
Ethan turned toward her.
“No one asked you.”
Silence.
That was the third crack.
The footage continued.
Victoria reached into her beige trouser pocket.
Removed a small black envelope.
Then slid it beneath the stack of fresh towels Leah had brought downstairs.
Ethan paused the recording.
“What is that?”
Victoria said nothing.
Leah stared at the towels still lying near the console.
She had never noticed.
Ethan walked over.
Lifted them.
The black envelope was still there.
Victoria’s wine glass shook.
Only once.
Enough.
Ethan picked up the envelope.
Victoria stepped forward.
“Don’t.”
Too fast.
Too afraid.
That was the fourth crack.
Ethan broke the seal.
Inside was one document.
Employee Misconduct Admission — Leah Bennett.
Leah stopped breathing.
The document said she admitted to:
Theft.
Dishonesty.
Emotional instability.
Improper access to family records.
And deliberate damage to mansion property.
At the bottom was her signature.
Leah stared at it.
“I never signed that.”
Ethan looked at Victoria.
She said nothing.
Then he saw the date.
The misconduct admission had been prepared three days earlier.
Before the wine was spilled.
Before Leah was humiliated.
Before there was anything to admit.
May you like
The ending had been written first.
Victoria only needed the scene to match it.
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