Chapter 5 - A Threat in the Library
The mansion’s grand library was dim, lit only by the crackling fire in the massive stone fireplace.
Victoria Lane stood near the center of the room, having changed out of her wine-stained ballgown into a sharp, expensive ivory trench coat. She was holding a crystal glass of scotch, her expression no longer frantic, but cold, calculating, and vicious.
When Daniel walked in, closing the heavy doors behind him, she didn't even flinch.
"You're making a catastrophic mistake, Daniel," Victoria said, taking a slow sip of her drink. "You're letting sentimentality blind you to reality."
"Get out of my house, Victoria," Daniel said coldly, standing ten feet away, his hands buried in his pockets. "Our engagement is over. My attorneys will deliver the official termination agreement to your father’s office by eight AM."
Victoria let out a harsh, bitter laugh. "Over? Because of a servant girl with a convenient birthmark? Do you have any idea what my family’s investment firm is holding over Hastings International right now? My father controls twenty-three percent of your short-term commercial debt! If we pull out of the merger, your stock will plummet forty percent by noon tomorrow!"
"I don't care about the stock," Daniel said flatly. "You struck my sister with a steel-tipped whip. You split her skin open in front of three hundred people. You are lucky I haven't handed you over to the state police yet."
Victoria took three slow steps toward him, her heels clicking sharply against the hardwood floor. "State police? Don't be naive, Daniel. Who do you think the local police report to? My uncle is the Chief of Police in this district. If I say that girl attacked me first and that I acted in self-defense, who do you think they'll believe? A billionaire heiress or an unregistered server working for under-the-table cash?"
Daniel’s eyes narrowed. "Are you threatening me?"
"I’m giving you a choice," Victoria hissed, stepping closer, her hazel eyes burning with desperation and venom. "Announce to the press that the girl was an imposter. Give her a hundred grand to disappear back to whatever gutter she crawled out of, and we go through with the wedding as planned. Otherwise... I’ll make sure her little brother never gets his heart surgery."
Daniel froze. His entire body locked into place. "What did you just say?"
Victoria smiled wickedly, pulling her smartphone from her pocket and sliding it across the mahogany desk between them.
On the screen was a live video feed of Saint Jude Children’s Hospital’s pediatric ICU. Outside room 412—Leo’s room—two large men in dark suits were standing near the door, watching the room through the glass window.
"My father’s personal security team is already at the hospital, Daniel," Victoria whispered, her voice laced with pure, unadulterated evil. "The chief of pediatric surgery at Saint Jude’s happens to sit on the board of my father's charitable foundation. One phone call from me, and your precious little 'brother' gets moved to the bottom of the donor list. His surgery disappears. He won't survive the week."
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Daniel stared at the phone screen, his breathing becoming long, slow, and terrifyingly calm. "You wouldn't dare."
"Try me," Victoria whispered, leaning in close. "You have until midnight to announce our engagement is still on. Choose wisely, Daniel."
