Chapter 8 - VICTORIA'S LAST MOVEVictoria Sterling had been underestimated too.
That was the problem with monsters who looked beautiful.
People expected the danger to announce itself.
Victoria never had.
She had been raised to smile while planning exits.
Within two hours of escaping federal transport, she abandoned the vehicle used by her accomplices.
Within four, she withdrew cash from three emergency accounts investigators hadn't discovered.
Within six, she vanished.
Police believed she would flee the country.
Clara didn't.
"She won't run."
Nathan looked at her.
"Why?"
"Because she wants to win."
"Winning right now means staying out of prison."
"Not for Victoria."
Clara remembered the rooftop.
The hatred.
The obsession.
"She thinks everything is personal."
Daniel agreed.
"She's coming for someone."
Federal agents placed the Ashfords under protection.
Clara refused to enter protective custody.
Sarah almost screamed.
Nathan did scream.
Clara ignored both.
Three days passed.
Nothing.
Then Clara received an envelope at work.
No return address.
Inside was a Polaroid.
Her mother's grave.
Taken that morning.
On the back:
SHE SHOULD HAVE STAYED QUIET.
Daniel wanted Clara hidden immediately.
Instead, Clara drove to the cemetery with federal agents following at a distance.
Nathan went with her.
They stood before Anna Morgan's grave.
Flowers had been placed there.
Red roses.
Clara noticed something.
"Mom hated roses."
Nathan looked around.
"Victoria knows that?"
"No."
"So why leave them?"
"Because they're not for Mom."
Clara pulled the flowers from the vase.
Beneath them was a small key.
Daniel recognized it later.
"Blackline storage."
Marcus frowned.
"How do you know?"
"Drivers used lockers at different locations."
The key belonged to a facility in New Jersey.
Agents opened the unit.
Inside were photographs.
Hundreds.
Richard.
Evelyn.
Nathan.
Clara.
Daniel.
Natalie.
And one unexpected person.
Charles Sterling.
Pictures showed Charles meeting privately with Howard Greer.
Then meeting Blackline contractors.
Then entering a hospital years earlier.
The date matched the night Clara's father died.
Daniel stared.
"We finally have him."
Clara shook her head.
"Too easy."
Sarah agreed.
"Victoria wants us to find this."
Nathan looked around.
"Why?"
Clara noticed a photograph pinned separately.
Her father, Michael Morgan.
Beside him was a man she didn't recognize.
On the back:
MICHAEL KNEW. ASK RICHARD ABOUT PROJECT HAVEN.
Richard's reaction told them everything.
When Clara showed him the photograph, his face collapsed.
"What is Project Haven?"
Richard sat.
"A witness relocation fund."
"Private?"
"Yes."
"Illegal?"
"Not exactly."
"What does that mean?"
Richard rubbed his face.
"Your mother wasn't the only person Sterling threatened."
Ashford had quietly paid relocation expenses for several whistleblowers.
New identities.
Jobs.
Housing.
Clara realized.
"That's why Mom changed our lives so quickly."
"Yes."
"Who else?"
Richard hesitated.
Nathan said, "Dad."
Richard answered.
"Victoria's mother."
Everyone stared.
Victoria's mother, Catherine Sterling, had barely spoken since the engagement party.
Richard continued.
"She tried to leave Charles when Victoria was nine."
Clara frowned.
"But she stayed."
"Because Charles found her."
"What happened?"
"He threatened Victoria."
Nathan whispered, "Jesus."
Richard said, "Catherine contacted me years later. She gave me evidence. Then suddenly withdrew."
Daniel understood first.
"Victoria found out."
Richard nodded.
"When she was sixteen."
Clara felt sick.
"Her father raised her to believe her mother betrayed them."
"Yes."
Nathan's expression softened despite everything.
"That doesn't excuse Victoria."
"No," Richard said. "But it explains where she learned survival."
Clara looked at the photograph.
"She wants us to find Catherine."
Sarah called the Sterling residence.
No answer.
Police entered the house.
Catherine was gone.
Her bedroom contained blood.
Not much.
Enough to frighten them.
On the bed lay another note.
HAVEN ENDS WHERE IT BEGAN.
Richard whispered, "Chicago."
They flew that night.
Project Haven's first safe property had been an abandoned lakeside motel north of Chicago.
Richard had secretly purchased it thirty years ago.
The building had been closed for decades.
Police surrounded the property.
Thermal cameras detected two people inside.
Victoria and Catherine.
Clara insisted on going closer.
Sarah refused.
Nathan agreed with Sarah.
Clara glared.
Nathan raised both hands.
"I'm learning."
Then Catherine appeared at a second-floor window.
Victoria pulled her backward.
A gunshot followed.
Agents moved.
Clara's phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
Victoria.
"Come inside."
"No."
"Then my mother dies."
"Why me?"
"Because your mother ruined my family."
"No, your father did."
Silence.
Clara continued.
"Your mother tried to protect you."
"Shut up."
"She tried to leave him."
"Shut up!"
"You know it's true."
Victoria's breathing changed.
Clara realized she had hit the wound.
"Let Catherine go."
"You come in."
Clara looked toward Sarah.
Sarah shook her head violently.
Clara whispered, "Fine."
Nathan grabbed her arm.
"No."
Clara covered the phone.
"She wants me."
"And that is exactly why you don't go."
Catherine screamed through the phone.
Clara closed her eyes.
"I have to."
Nathan's face hardened.
"Then I'm going too."
Victoria heard.
"No Nathan."
Clara looked at him.
He understood.
She entered alone.
The old motel smelled of dust and lake water.
Victoria waited upstairs.
Catherine sat tied to a chair.
Her cheek was bruised.
"Clara," Catherine whispered. "Don't."
Victoria held a gun.
"You look so much like Anna."
Clara stopped.
"You knew my mother?"
"Once."
"She helped your mother."
"She destroyed everything."
"No. She showed Catherine what your father was."
Victoria's hand shook.
Clara saw it.
"Your mother didn't betray you."
"Stop."
"Your father used you."
"Stop."
"He shaped your entire life around taking Nathan's company."
"Shut up!"
Victoria aimed.
Clara didn't move.
"Then shoot me."
Catherine cried, "No!"
Clara looked directly into Victoria's eyes.
"If killing people made you powerful, your father would be the most powerful man alive."
Victoria's face twisted.
"But he's in custody."
Clara took one step.
"And you're standing in an abandoned motel begging the maid you despise to admit you won."
Victoria flinched.
Clara took another step.
"You didn't."
Victoria fired.
Clara dropped.
The bullet struck the wall behind her.
Catherine kicked Victoria's knee.
Victoria screamed.
Clara lunged.
They fought for the weapon.
Catherine freed one hand and grabbed Victoria's wrist.
The gun fired into the ceiling.
Agents stormed upstairs.
Victoria was pinned to the floor.
This time, she didn't fight.
She started crying.
Not pretty tears.
Not controlled tears.
She curled against the floor and sobbed like a child.
Catherine stared at her daughter.
Victoria whispered, "You left me."
Catherine knelt.
"I tried to take you."
"He said you didn't want me."
"I came back three times."
Victoria looked up.
"You're lying."
Catherine touched her face.
"I have spent twenty years wishing I had been stronger."
Victoria shut her eyes.
For the first time, Clara didn't see a villain.
She saw what villains sometimes began as.
A child taught the wrong lesson until cruelty became easier than fear.
Victoria still had to answer for everything she'd done.
Understanding was not absolution.
But Clara finally understood.
Outside, Nathan grabbed Clara so tightly she complained she couldn't breathe.
He released her immediately.
She laughed.
"I didn't mean completely."
He hugged her again.
Sarah walked past.
"You two are exhausting."
Daniel grinned.
"Runs in the family."
Clara looked at him.
"What family?"
Daniel smiled.
May you like
"Whichever weird one we're building."
And for once, the word family didn't frighten her.
