Chapter 2
Victor’s champagne glass slipped from his fingers and shattered on the marble.
“No,” he whispered. “No, that’s not—”
The girl smiled up at him, but it wasn’t a child’s smile anymore.
“You remember me,” she said to the horse, stroking his nose. Tears welled in the animal’s dark eyes.
A reporter near the back lowered his phone in disbelief. “How is this possible?”
The girl turned to face Victor. Something in her expression had shifted, gone sharp and old beyond her years.
“You never told them what happened that night,” she said.
Victor took a step back. “What did you say?”
“I know who killed my father.”
Gasps broke out across the ballroom. Somewhere, a glass shattered again.
Victor’s face had gone the color of ash.
“Because the horse saw everything,” the girl said.
Nobody moved. Nobody breathed.
The stallion stepped sideways, placing his body between the girl and Victor, as if he understood exactly what she’d said.
“Cameras on,” a reporter hissed to his cameraman. “Get this. Get all of it.”
“This is absurd,” Victor said, forcing a laugh that cracked halfway through. “She’s a child. Someone put her up to this.”
But his hands were shaking, and everyone could see it.
The girl reached into the pocket of her dress and pulled out a small silver locket, tarnished with age.
Victor’s eyes went wide. “That’s—that’s impossible.”
“My father wore this the night he died,” the girl said. “You remember that too, don’t you?”
The crowd had gone completely still, phones raised, drinks forgotten.
“He worked for you,” she continued. “He was your accountant. His name was Daniel Reyes.”
A murmur ran through the older guests. A few exchanged glances.
“He found out you were stealing from your own investors,” she said. “Skimming money from the breeding program. Millions of dollars.”
“Enough,” Victor snapped, his voice cracking.
The girl pointed at the stallion. “My father raised this horse from a foal. The night he found out what you’d done, he tried to run. He rode away on him.”
The horse stomped once, hard, as if agreeing.
“He never made it home.”
May you like
Victor lunged toward her. “Give me that locket, right now—”
Two security guards grabbed his arms before he got close.
