Chapter 15 - VICTORIA’S CONFESSIONVictoria did not confess because she felt guilty.

She confessed because she got angry.

Detective Bennett arranged the interview at the county station. Richard watched from behind one-way glass with Margaret beside him.

Victoria sat in a white blouse, hair tied back, face pale but still beautiful. Her attorney whispered advice, but Victoria’s eyes stayed fixed on the table.

Detective Bennett placed three photographs in front of her.

Eleanor leaving a hospital charity event eight months pregnant.

Conrad speaking to a hospital administrator.

Victoria standing in the background.

Victoria’s jaw tightened.

“You were there,” Bennett said.

“It was a public event.”

“You told Richard you met him months later.”

Victoria looked away.

Bennett placed another document down.

“The hospital access approval from the night Eleanor died. Your signature appears as witness.”

Victoria laughed under her breath.

“My father handled business. I signed many things.”

“Did you know Eleanor Sterling was alive and recovering when Conrad entered her room?”

Victoria’s attorney said, “Don’t answer that.”

Victoria leaned back.

For a long moment, she stayed silent.

Then Bennett said, “Victoria, your father is already preparing to blame everything on you.”

Victoria’s eyes snapped up.

Behind the glass, Richard saw the shift.

Bennett continued. “His legal team says you developed an obsession with replacing Eleanor. They say he tried to help you, but you became unstable.”

Victoria’s face changed from fear to fury.

“He said that?”

Bennett did not answer.

She did not need to.

Victoria’s laugh was quiet and broken.

“Of course he did.”

Her attorney whispered sharply, “Victoria.”

She ignored him.

“My father didn’t kill Eleanor,” she said.

Richard stopped breathing.

Victoria looked directly at the mirror, as if she knew Richard was behind it.

“But he made sure the person who did was protected.”

Bennett leaned forward.

“Who?”

Victoria smiled bitterly.

“Eleanor’s doctor owed my father four million dollars.”

Margaret covered her mouth.

Richard felt rage tear through him.

Victoria continued, voice shaking.

“I was twenty-seven. My father told me it was business. He said Eleanor was blocking a port merger that would make everyone rich. He said she was fragile anyway.”

Bennett’s voice hardened. “And Maya?”

Victoria’s face twisted.

“Maya was supposed to be raised by Richard and me. My father said if I became the mother, the Sterling trust would eventually open. But Eleanor ruined that too. Even dead, she ruined everything.”

Behind the glass, Richard closed his eyes.

Victoria kept talking now, unable to stop.

“I tried. I smiled. I held the child. I posed for photos. But she looked at me like she knew. Like some part of her remembered that I was there before her mother died.”

Tears rolled down her cheeks.

“So yes. I wanted her gone. I wanted one room in that house where Eleanor wasn’t breathing down my neck.”

Bennett said softly, “She was two years old.”

Victoria lowered her face.

For the first time, she seemed to understand the weight of that sentence.

But understanding came too late.

Richard walked out before the interview ended.

He did not want to hear another word from her.

Outside the station, cold air hit his face.

Margaret followed.

“What now?” she asked.

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Richard looked toward the dark road.

“Now we take down everyone who touched my family.”