Chapter 2 - The Weight of Silence
The next two days were a torture of furtive glances and suffocating silences. Richard Carter returned from Chicago victorious, carrying the aura of a king who had just conquered new lands. He was entirely oblivious to the fact that his own castle had been overtaken by treason.
Victoria played her part with a mastery that turned Emma's stomach. She hung off Richard's arm, laughed at his business anecdotes, and had his favorite drink waiting the moment he walked through the door. Emma watched it all from the shadows, feeling the weight of the secret like a stone on her chest.
On Friday afternoon, Victoria walked into Emma's room without knocking. She carried a slim leather envelope in her hands. "Your father bought you that car you wanted," Victoria said, dropping the envelope on the desk. "And I've transferred fifty thousand dollars into your personal account. For your Europe trip. Consider it an... early graduation gift."
Emma looked at the envelope, then up at her mother. "Is that the going rate? Fifty grand to let you humiliate my father right under his nose every single day?"
Victoria's face hardened, the devoted mother mask slipping away. "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 out on the street, he'll use you as a trophy in the divorce, and the company's stock will plummet. We will lose everything. Take the money and keep your mouth shut. It's what adults do."
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Victoria walked out of the room, taking her victory for granted. However, Emma didn't touch the envelope. Instead, she flipped open her laptop. She knew her mother thought she had wiped the security footage from the hallway cameras, but Emma had the password to the house's cloud server. She downloaded the videos from the last three weeks. Julian coming in. Julian leaving. The exact timestamps.
Silence wasn't an option. The only question was how to detonate the bomb.
