Chapter 2 - THE WEIGHT OF SILENCE
The next two days were a torment of furtive glances and suffocating silences. Richard Carter returned from Chicago victorious, carrying with him the aura of a king who had conquered new lands. He was completely unaware that his own castle had been seized by treachery.
Victoria played her part with a mastery that made Emma's stomach churn. She clung to Richard's arm, laughed at his business anecdotes, and prepared his favorite drink upon his arrival. Emma watched everything from the shadows, feeling the weight of the secret like a stone on her chest.
On Friday afternoon, Victoria entered Emma's room without knocking. She carried a fine leather envelope. "Your father bought you that car you wanted," Victoria said, placing the envelope on the desk. "And I transferred fifty thousand dollars to your personal account. For your trip to Europe. Consider it an... early graduation bonus."
Emma looked at the envelope and then at her mother. "Is that the price?" Fifty thousand dollars to let you humiliate my father every day right under his nose?
Victoria's face hardened, losing her mask of devoted motherhood. "Don't be naive, Emma. Your father is married to his company. I'm just another ornament in this mansion. Julian sees me. Julian values me. If you open your mouth, Richard will leave me destitute, use you as a trophy in the divorce, and the company's stock will plummet. We'll lose everything. Take the money and keep quiet. That's what adults do."
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Victoria left the room, taking her victory for granted. Emma, however, didn't touch the envelope. Instead, she opened her laptop. She knew her mother thought she had deleted the security camera footage from the hallway, but Emma had the password to the house's cloud server. She downloaded the videos from the last three weeks. Julian entering. Julian leaving. The exact times.
Silence wasn't an option. The only question was how to detonate the bomb.
