part 3
PART 3
The morning at the estate smelled like coffee, lilies, and warning.
Audrey arrived at nine.
Dominic was not there.
That should have been the first alarm.
Victoria waited near the grand staircase in a pale gray suit, hands folded, pearls glowing at her throat.
Paige stood beside the window, pretending to admire the lake.
Audrey stopped in the foyer.
“Where is Dominic?”
Victoria smiled.
“Running late.”
Paige turned.
“He said we should start without him.”
Audrey looked from one woman to the other.
“Start what?”
Victoria stepped closer.
“A conversation about your role.”
Audrey felt her phone inside her coat pocket.
Sophia had told her to keep location sharing on.
The estate security cameras had already been moved to Audrey’s private cloud after she discovered the asset draft.
Victoria did not know that.
Paige’s smile sharpened.
“Dominic is tired, Audrey.”
“Of what?”
“Of being treated like a guest in your life.”
Audrey almost laughed.
“He lives in my house.”
Victoria’s eyes hardened.
“Our family name gives that house meaning.”
Audrey looked at the staircase.
Then back at Victoria.
“My father’s money paid for it.”
That was the sentence that did it.
Victoria’s face twisted.
“You arrogant little girl.”
Audrey turned to leave.
Victoria grabbed her arm.
Audrey pulled back.
“Let go.”
Paige whispered, “Victoria, don’t.”
But Victoria shoved.
Not hard enough to look like murder.
Hard enough.
Audrey’s heel slipped on the marble edge.
The world tilted.
Her shoulder hit first.
Then her ribs.
Then her head.
She heard Paige scream.
She heard Victoria say, “She slipped.”
She heard the dull crack of her own body striking the landing.
Then darkness.
When Dominic arrived, he did not kneel beside her.
He stood over her and looked at his mother.
Audrey was barely conscious, but she heard him.
“What did you do?”
Victoria sobbed.
“She threatened us.”
Paige whispered, “She needs an ambulance.”
Dominic paused too long.
That pause became evidence later.
When Audrey woke in the hospital, the first thing Sophia told her was that the staircase camera had captured everything.
The second thing was that Dominic had asked whether Audrey had signed anything before the fall.
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The third thing was that Audrey had been pregnant.
Read the full story 👉 The estate camera captured Victoria shoving Audrey, and Dominic’s first concern was whether she had signed the asset papers.
