The Daughter Victor Chose
Chapter 05 - The Daughter Victor Chose
Bianca spent the night in her father’s office, replaying the phone call.
She had recognized Adrian’s voice. The pause before Maya’s name and the roughness beneath his fear belonged to the brother she had known since childhood. Believing he was alive, however, meant accepting that her father had lied for months.
Victor arrived before sunrise. He did not ask about Maya’s condition.
“Did she sign the waiver?”
“No.”
“Then make her.”
Bianca stared at him. “You told me the paternity test was verified.”
“It is useful. That is what matters.”
The words struck harder than a confession. Bianca had built the company’s public story around that report. She had called Maya a fraud and prepared a statement that would destroy her reputation.
“Did you know Adrian was alive?”
Victor poured coffee. “Grief has made everyone irrational.”
“That is not an answer.”
He finally looked at her. “I chose you to inherit because Adrian never understood what power requires. Do not make me regret that choice.”
Bianca had waited thirty years to hear that he chose her. Now the sentence sounded like a chain.
Later, Maya received a call from an unknown number.
“I know where the report was created,” Bianca said. “A private lab in Connecticut. The technician was paid through a consulting firm.”
“Your father’s?”
“I do not know.”
“You know more than you are saying.”
Bianca inhaled sharply. “Meet me tonight at St. Agnes Chapel. Come without Eleanor. Adrian left something with me before the yacht trip. I thought it was sentimental. Now I think it is evidence.”
Eleanor objected, but Maya insisted. They compromised: Samuel would wait outside, and Grace would record from a nearby pew.
The chapel was empty except for candles and rain tapping the stained glass. Bianca stood near the altar holding a leather-bound book.
“Adrian gave me this and said, ‘When Dad asks for it, remember which brother trusted you first.’”
Inside was a list of ship names written in invisible ink. Under ultraviolet light, dates and bank codes appeared.
Before Maya could photograph them, the lights went out.
A gunshot cracked through the darkness.
Glass shattered above the altar. Bianca pulled Maya to the floor and covered her body.
When the lights returned, the book was gone.
Samuel found a bullet embedded high in the wall. The shot had not been aimed at them.
It was a warning.
Bianca stared at the broken window. “My father knew I was here.”
Maya looked at the woman who had humiliated her only hours earlier.
“So now you understand,” she said. “He did not choose you to inherit.”
May you like
Bianca’s voice broke.
“He chose you to obey.”
