Chapter 8 - Pretending to Be Powerless
Victoria opened the bathroom door with a towel wrapped around her shoulders.
“I was talking to the baby,” she said.
Damian searched her face.
Then he laughed.
“You scared me.”
He kissed her forehead and glanced toward the necklace lying beside the sink.
Victoria forced herself not to follow his eyes.
From that moment, she performed the role Damian and Serena had written for her.
She acted tired.
She allowed Damian to cancel meetings.
She apologized when Serena claimed she had forgotten conversations.
She even told two board members that Damian might temporarily take on more responsibility after the baby arrived.
The change delighted him.
His patience disappeared because he believed he had already won.
He began taking calls in front of her.
He stopped hiding Serena’s name on his phone.
He discussed control of Vale Harbor as though Victoria were no longer in the room.
One evening, Victoria heard him tell Serena, “After the transfer, the board won’t matter.”
Serena replied, “Neither will she.”
Victoria stood behind the library door, holding the necklace against her palm.
She could have recorded them then.
But the words were not enough.
Damian could claim they were discussing a different transfer.
Serena could call the recording misleading.
Victoria needed documents, context and a confession tied together.
Mara helped her establish a secure channel.
Elias quietly examined every authorization Damian had submitted.
Elena, although fired, contacted former household staff and discovered Serena had instructed them to describe Victoria as disoriented if lawyers ever questioned them.
The conspiracy was larger than an affair.
Damian and Serena were building a legal case to strip Victoria of control.
And they were doing it before Grace was born.
When Victoria returned to her bedroom, she found a new leather folder on her pillow.
This one was marked:
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EMERGENCY OWNERSHIP RESTRUCTURE.
👉 Damian had stopped asking for temporary authority; now he wanted Victoria’s entire inheritance before her child could become another legal obstacle.
