Chapter 5 - The Snake's Poison
The tension in the house reached a boiling point over the following week.
Victoria’s visits became more frequent, and her hostility toward me transformed from passive-aggressive insults into cold, calculated hostility. She realized, far better than I did, that Darius’s protective nature toward my daughters and me was growing into something far deeper and infinitely more dangerous to her ambitions.
One evening, while Darius was attending a high-level meeting downtown with his syndicate captains, Victoria cornered me in the grand kitchen.
I was preparing a warm cup of chamomile tea for Ruby, who had come down with a light fever. Victoria stepped into the room, dressed in an immaculate white evening dress, holding a heavy manila envelope in her manicured hand.
"Still playing the dutiful servant, Elena?" Victoria asked, sliding the envelope across the stainless steel counter.
I didn't touch it. "What is this, Miss Vance?"
"It's your ticket out of Chicago," she said smoothly, leaning against the counter. "Inside that envelope is a cashier's check for two hundred thousand dollars, three first-class plane tickets to Seattle, and a lease agreement for a fully furnished townhouse near the coast. You take your daughters, you leave tonight, and you never return."
I looked at the envelope, then raised my eyes to meet hers. "Darius hired me to do a job. I haven't finished it."
Victoria’s eyes narrowed into slits of pure ice. "Do not be foolish, girl. You think Darius Slade is a hero because he bought your daughter some crayons? He is the head of the largest organized crime family in the Midwest. He has ordered the deaths of dozens of men. His hands are covered in blood that will never wash off."
"He saved my life," I replied firmly. "And he treated my children with kindness when their own father discarded them. That makes him more of a man than anyone you've ever introduced him to."
Victoria let out a low, bitter laugh. "You poor, naive fool. You think you're special? You think he loves you? He looks at you and sees a ghost, Elena. He sees his dead sister. He's using you to wash his guilty conscience clean."
She stepped closer, her breath smelling of expensive wine and peppermint. "Take the money and run. Because if you stay, my family will ensure the police find fifty pounds of contraband hidden in your suite. You will go to prison for twenty years, and your little girls will end up in the state foster system. Choose."
My heart pounded against my ribs like a trapped bird. She was powerful, wealthy, and connected to the dark underbelly of the city. She could make her threat a reality with a single phone call.
"I'm giving you until midnight," Victoria hissed, leaning back and smoothing her dress. "If you are still in this house when Darius returns, I will ruin you."
She turned and swept out of the kitchen, her heels clicking loudly against the marble floor.
May you like
I stood alone in the quiet kitchen, staring at the white envelope on the counter. The room seemed to shrink around me as the terrifying reality of my situation pressed down on my chest. I couldn't risk my children. I couldn't let Ruby and Mia be taken away by social services.
Tears streaming down my face, I turned off the stove, walked up the back stairs to the east wing, and pulled my old suitcase out from beneath the bed.
