Chapter 6 - The Truth Behind Victoria Hale
“Emma, if you are watching this, Alexander already knows you found out.”
My mother’s voice filled the room.
A voice I had spent years believing I would never hear again.
I couldn’t move.
I couldn’t blink.
I just stared at the screen, watching the woman who was supposed to be gone forever look directly at me.
She looked older.
Tired.
Different.
But it was her.
My mother.
The person I had cried for.
The person I had buried.
The person I had missed every single day since I was nineteen.
Maggie covered her mouth.
“Emma…”
I held up my hand.
I couldn’t hear anything except my mother’s voice.
“I don’t know when you will find this,” she continued. “I don’t know who helped you. I don’t know what Alexander told you.”
Her eyes moved away from the camera.
Like she was afraid someone might be watching.
“But if you found this, then the truth is already moving.”
I felt a chill.
“The first thing you need to understand is that I did not leave you.”
My chest tightened.
I had spent twenty years believing she left me.
That she abandoned me.
That she chose a different life.
“I never stopped loving you.”
A tear rolled down my face.
I hated that even after everything, hearing those words still broke me.
Because every child wants to hear that.
Even an adult child.
Even after years of pretending they don’t care.
My mother continued.
“I had to disappear because of what I discovered.”
The video flickered.
Then her face returned.
“Richard Whitfield was not the man everyone believed he was.”
Alexander’s father.
The name immediately connected everything.
The photograph.
My father.
The secret.
“What did he do?” I whispered.
My mother answered as if she could hear me.
“He built his empire by destroying people who stood in his way.”
I looked at Maggie.
She was frozen.
“I found financial records,” my mother said. “Hidden payments. Illegal deals. Evidence that could destroy everything the Whitfield family owned.”
My breathing became shallow.
“But the worst part was not what Richard did.”
She looked directly into the camera.
“It was who helped him.”
The video paused for a moment.
Then:
“David.”
My father.
I felt like the floor disappeared.
“No,” I whispered.
Maggie looked at me.
“Emma…”
I shook my head.
“No.”
My mother’s voice continued.
“Your father was not innocent.”
The words hurt more than I expected.
Because even though I barely remembered him, some part of me had always protected him.
He was the father who disappeared.
The father who had a reason.
The father who secretly loved me from afar.
But maybe I had created that version because the truth was too painful.
“David wanted to expose Richard,” my mother said.
“Then he became afraid.”
The video showed her hands shaking.
“He made a deal.”
I stared at the screen.
“A deal with who?”
My mother answered.
“With Alexander.”
Silence.
The room became completely silent.
I replayed the sentence in my head.
With Alexander.
Not Richard.
Not Victoria.
Alexander.
The man I married.
The father of my child.
The man who held my hand at our wedding.
The man who watched me sleep.
The man who said he wanted a family.
My mother continued.
“Emma, Alexander knew who you were before you met him.”
My heart stopped.
“No.”
Maggie grabbed my hand.
I kept watching.
“He knew your father. He knew me. He knew everything.”
The video shook slightly.
“He didn’t meet you by chance.”
I remembered that charity event.
The hallway.
The flowers.
The way he looked at me.
You look like the only person here who actually knows what’s happening.
I thought it was a romantic beginning.
Maybe it was a plan.
My mother’s voice became softer.
“I need you to understand something.”
A tear fell from her eye.
“Alexander was not the person who destroyed us.”
I frowned.
What?
“Then who was?”
The video ended.
Just like that.
The screen went black.
I stared at it.
Waiting.
Hoping it would continue.
It didn’t.
“That’s it?” Maggie asked.
I nodded slowly.
“That’s it.”
My phone rang.
Both of us jumped.
Unknown number.
I answered immediately.
“Who is this?”
A familiar voice responded.
“Emma.”
I froze.
Alexander.
“I know you watched the video.”
My blood ran cold.
“How?”
Silence.
Then:
“Because I sent it.”
I stood up.
“You sent it?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
His voice sounded exhausted.
“Because you deserved to know the truth.”
I almost laughed.
“The truth?”
My voice broke.
“You lied to me for four years.”
“I know.”
“You tracked my phone.”
“I know.”
“You were seeing Victoria.”
“I know.”
“Then why should I believe anything you say?”
He didn’t answer immediately.
That was the first time I heard hesitation in Alexander’s voice.
“I never stopped trying to protect you.”
I closed my eyes.
“Stop saying that.”
“Emma—”
“No.”
I walked away from Maggie.
“Every time you say protect, you mean control.”
A long silence followed.
Then Alexander said something I did not expect.
“You’re right.”
I stopped.
He continued.
“I confused them.”
The honesty caught me off guard.
“I thought if I knew where you were, I could keep you safe.”
“Safe from what?”
Another pause.
“From my family.”
I felt a cold sensation.
“Your family?”
“My father.”
I looked back at the screen where my mother had disappeared.
“What happened to my mother?”
Alexander’s breathing changed.
Like he had been waiting years to answer.
“She found something she wasn’t supposed to find.”
“What?”
“The truth about your father.”
I gripped the phone.
“My father was involved.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did he call me?”
Silence.
“He wanted to fix what he broke.”
I felt anger rise.
“Twenty years later?”
“Yes.”
“After letting me believe he was dead?”
“Yes.”
My hands trembled.
“Where is he?”
Alexander didn’t answer.
“Where is my father?”
“Emma, you need to understand something.”
“What?”
“He’s not the only person who has been hiding.”
My stomach tightened.
“What does that mean?”
Alexander’s voice lowered.
“It means Victoria was never the woman you thought she was.”
I froze.
“What?”
“She didn’t come back because she loved me.”
My heart started racing.
“Then why?”
“Because she was trying to find the same thing your mother found.”
I looked at Maggie.
She looked equally confused.
“What thing?”
Alexander answered:
“The evidence that could destroy everyone.”
I didn’t speak.
Because suddenly Victoria’s warning sounded different.
Not a jealous woman.
Not a rival.
Someone afraid.
Someone who knew something.
“Why did she call me that night?”
Alexander hesitated.
“Because she knew you were leaving.”
“How?”
Another silence.
Then:
“Because someone told her.”
“Who?”
Alexander didn’t answer.
“Emma, listen to me.”
“No. Tell me.”
His voice became urgent.
“You need to leave Austin.”
My heart dropped.
“Why?”
“Because they know where you are.”
The room went cold.
“What?”
“I sent you that video because I wanted you to know the truth before they found you.”
“Who is they?”
Alexander said nothing.
“Alexander.”
His voice changed.
Fear.
Real fear.
“Emma, I need you to do exactly what I say.”
“No.”
“Please.”
I had never heard him say that before.
“Get Maggie. Get your daughter somewhere public. Do not stay in that house.”
My hand moved to my stomach.
“You’re scaring me.”
“I’m trying to keep you alive.”
I almost ended the call.
Then I heard something.
A sound.
On Alexander’s end.
A door opening.
“Alexander?”
Silence.
“Who is there?”
No answer.
Then his breathing changed.
“Emma.”
His voice was barely a whisper.
“Do not trust anyone who comes to you.”
My heart stopped.
“What does that mean?”
The line went silent.
“Alexander?”
Nothing.
Then one final sound came through the phone.
A woman’s voice.
A woman I recognized.
Victoria.
May you like
And she said:
“Emma, he was never the one you should have been afraid of.”
