Chapter 361: Two Birds with One Stone

Chapter 361: Two Birds with One Stone
[Victoria]

The news came through a text message from one of my contacts at the hospital. My fingers trembled slightly as I read the words: Olivia Bennett - assault victim, miscarriage. Sarah Sullivan - early labor, delivered prematurely.

A smile spread across my face before I could stop it. I set my phone down on my desk and leaned back in my executive chair, feeling something I hadn't experienced in months: satisfaction. The plan had worked better than I'd ever imagined. Two birds with one stone, as they say.

I picked up my phone again and scrolled through my contacts until I found Nora's number. She answered on the second ring, her voice still hoarse and damaged from the reconstructive surgery after her... accident.

"Victoria?" she whispered, the sound making my skin crawl. Even with all the work the doctors had done, she still sounded like a broken doll.

"Pack your things," I said without preamble. "You need to leave the city. Tonight."

There was a long pause. "What? Why? What happened?"

I opened my desk drawer and pulled out a black credit card, one I'd been keeping for exactly this moment. "I'm sending you a car. It'll be there in twenty minutes. Take only what you need."

"Victoria, you're scaring me. What's going on?"

"Nothing you need to worry about anymore." I stood up and walked to my office window, looking out at the Manhattan skyline. "Your services are no longer required."

Another pause, then: "Services? Victoria, what are you talking about? I thought we were family."

I almost laughed. Family. As if I'd ever considered this grotesque imitation of Sarah as anything more than a useful tool. "The card I'm sending has enough money for you to disappear completely. Get plastic surgery somewhere far away. Become someone new."

"I don't understand—"

"You don't need to understand." I cut her off, my voice sharp. "You just need to disappear. The car will have the card. Don't contact me again."

I hung up before she could respond. Within minutes, I'd arranged for a driver to deliver the card to her apartment. Fifty thousand dollars should be more than enough to ensure Nora vanished permanently. And if she was smart, she'd use every penny of it to fix what remained of her face.

My phone buzzed. Alex.

"Victoria." His voice was colder than I'd ever heard it. "We need to talk."

I glanced at my reflection in the window. My makeup was perfect, my hair immaculate. I looked every inch the successful PR executive I was supposed to be. "About what?"

"About what happened to Olivia Bennett."

I felt my pulse quicken, but my voice remained steady. "I heard about that terrible incident. Is she going to be okay?"

"Cut the act, Victoria. We both know Nora was behind this."

"My cousin?" I injected just the right amount of confusion into my tone. "Alex, I don't know what you're implying, but Nora has been recovering from her injuries. She's barely left her apartment in weeks."

"She's been planning this for weeks. The resemblance to Sarah, the access to company information through you..." His voice grew harder. "This has your fingerprints all over it."

I sat back down, smoothing my skirt. "That's a very serious accusation. I hope you have proof to back it up."

"Sarah was so distraught over what happened to Olivia that she went into early labor. She could have lost the baby, Victoria. Does that mean anything to you?"

For a moment, I felt a flicker of something—not quite guilt, but perhaps awareness of how far things had gone. Then I remembered Theodore's face when he looked at Sarah, the way he touched her growing belly, the tenderness in his eyes that had never been for me.

"I'm sorry to hear about Sarah's complications," I said carefully. "But I fail to see how this relates to me. If Nora did something terrible, that's on her. She's been... unstable since her accident. Disfigurement can do terrible things to a person's mind."

"Her disfigurement?" Alex's voice was dangerous now. "You mean when someone threw acid on her face? Funny how that happened right after she'd been impersonating Sarah."

"I don't know what you're implying—"

"I'm not implying anything. I'm telling you. This ends now, Victoria. Whatever sick game you've been playing, it's over."

I stood up again, anger flaring in my chest. "You have no proof of anything. Even if Nora did orchestrate this kidnapping—which I'm not admitting—what makes you think I had anything to do with it? She became obsessed with ruining Sarah after her face was destroyed. She probably blamed Sarah for what happened to her. People do crazy things when they're in pain."

The lie came so easily, I almost believed it myself. Let Nora take the fall. She was already destroyed, already nothing. What was one more crime pinned on someone who no longer existed?

"Sarah's early labor, Olivia's assault—none of this would have happened if you hadn't brought that psychopath into our company," Alex continued. "You weaponized her obsession with Sarah."

"That's enough." My voice was ice-cold now. "Even if what you're suggesting were true—which it isn't—there's no evidence connecting me to any crime. Nora acted alone. Her psychological breakdown after her disfigurement led her to do terrible things. She needs help, not accusations."

"You really think you're going to get away with this?"

I smiled, even though he couldn't see it. "Get away with what, exactly? I'm a victim here too. My unstable cousin used my position to gain access to information, then went rogue. I had no idea what she was planning."

The line went quiet for a long moment. When Alex spoke again, his voice was flat. "You better hope Theodore sees it that way."

"Theodore has more important things to worry about right now. Like his premature son and his traumatized wife." I paused, letting that sink in. "Besides, what's the worst that could happen? I lose my job? I've already lost everything that mattered to me."

I hung up before he could respond.

For a few minutes, I sat in my office, staring at my phone. The rational part of my mind knew I should feel something—remorse, fear, guilt. But all I felt was a strange emptiness. Theodore would never love me. Sarah would always be in the way. And now, with a baby binding them together forever, I had nothing left to lose.

I gathered my purse and coat. If Olivia was in the hospital, I should make an appearance. Show concern. Express shock at what my "disturbed cousin" had done. Maybe bring flowers—something white and pure to contrast with the darkness everyone would surely be feeling.

The private medical facility where the Pierce family received treatment was only twenty minutes away. I bought white lilies from the gift shop in the lobby. Perfect for someone who'd lost a baby. Perfect for conveying the right amount of sympathy without seeming overly invested.

But as I approached Olivia's floor, I saw a familiar figure standing outside her room. James Grant turned when he heard my heels clicking on the polished floor, and the look on his face made me stop dead in my tracks.

"Going somewhere?" His voice was quiet, but there was menace in it that made my skin crawl.

"I came to check on Olivia," I said, lifting the flowers slightly. "What happened to her was terrible."

James stepped closer, and I could see the fury radiating from him. Without warning, he grabbed the lilies from my hands and threw them into a nearby trash can.

"Don't." His voice was deadly calm. "Don't you dare pretend to care about her."

"I don't know what you think I've done—"

"I know exactly what you've done." He moved closer, backing me against the wall. "Your cousin Nora. The one whose face you had destroyed because she was getting too close to the truth. The one you manipulated into targeting Olivia instead of Sarah."

I felt the blood drain from my face. "You can't prove any of that."

"You destroyed an innocent woman to create your perfect weapon," he continued relentlessly. "You turned her into a monster and then pointed her at Sarah. But when your plan went wrong and she grabbed Olivia instead..." He paused, his jaw clenching. "A pregnant woman, Victoria. She was six weeks pregnant."

"I didn't know—"

"You didn't care." His voice was barely above a whisper, but it cut through me like a blade. "You were so obsessed with destroying Sarah that you didn't care who else got hurt."

I tried to step around him, but he blocked my path. "I need to leave."

"Yes, you do." He leaned closer, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "You need to leave this hospital. You need to leave the city. You need to disappear before Theodore finds out exactly how deep your involvement goes."