Chapter 5 - The Truth in Miami
Victor flew to Miami two days later.
He hated leaving Catherine and Annie, but Catherine insisted.
“Go,” she told him from her hospital bed. “If there is proof, you need to find it before your mother does.”
Brian traveled with him.
“I should have spoken years ago,” Brian said during the flight.
“You are speaking now,” Victor replied.
“It may not be enough.”
“It has to be.”
The Miami account was held at a private bank under the name Catherine Ellis, Catherine’s maiden name. The bank manager met Victor and Daniel in a quiet office overlooking Biscayne Bay.
The account held no cash.
Instead, it contained a sealed legal package.
Inside were copies of Maris’s financial records from twelve years earlier, a letter from Victor’s father, and an audio recording.
Victor’s hands shook as he read the letter.
Victor, if you are reading this, I was unable to stop your mother. I made a mistake by keeping her secrets for too long. She has been using the company to hide transactions connected to illegal land acquisitions and bribery. I have placed evidence with Catherine because she is the only person Maris will underestimate.
Victor looked up.
His father had trusted Catherine.
Not Maris.
Not the board.
Catherine.
The recording was worse.
It captured an argument between Victor’s father and Maris.
“You cannot keep using the company like this,” his father said.
Maris answered, “You are too weak to understand what this family needs.”
“You are stealing from our own son.”
“I am building something for him.”
“You are destroying him.”
Then came a crash.
A sharp sound.
And the recording ended.
Victor sat frozen.
Brian stood near the window, his face devastated.
“I remember that night,” Brian whispered. “Your father called me. He sounded afraid. He told me to come to the house.”
“Did you?” Victor asked.
“Yes. But when I arrived, your mother said he had collapsed. She told me he had suffered a heart attack.”
Victor looked at the document again.
There was a medical report attached.
The report listed a cardiac event.
But Daniel had already found inconsistencies.
The doctor who signed it had retired suddenly six months later and moved overseas.
Maris had not only stolen money.
She may have silenced Victor’s father.
Before Victor could process it, his phone rang.
Catherine.
He answered instantly.
“Catherine?”
Her breathing was shaky.
“Victor, someone came to the hospital.”
His blood turned cold.
“Who?”
“A lawyer. He said Maris sent him.”
“Are you safe?”
“I’m with Annie. Security made him leave, but he left a message.”
“What message?”
Catherine was quiet for a moment.
Then she said, “He said Maris knows you went to Miami. And she said if you try to destroy her, she will make sure Annie loses both her parents.”
Victor stood so fast his chair fell backward.
“Listen to me,” he said. “You and Annie are leaving the hospital. Brian will arrange security. You are not going anywhere alone.”
“Victor—”
“I failed you once. I will not fail you again.”
Back in Silverspring, Maris made her next move.
She called a press conference.
Standing before cameras in a black suit and pearls, she claimed Victor had become “emotionally unstable” because of marital stress. She accused Catherine of manipulating him while he was vulnerable. She told reporters that Victor’s sudden business decisions could endanger thousands of jobs.
The board began panicking.
Investors demanded answers.
And the Silvergate project was scheduled for public announcement the next morning.
Maris believed Victor would cancel the event.
She believed he would hide.
But Victor had spent too long hiding from the truth.
The next morning, he walked onto the stage in front of investors, reporters, city officials, and employees.
Behind him was a giant screen displaying the Williams Development logo.
Maris sat in the front row, confident and composed.
Victor looked directly at her.
Then he said into the microphone:
“Today, I am not announcing the Silvergate project.”
The room erupted in whispers.
“I am announcing an internal investigation into financial crimes committed within Williams Development and by members of my own family.”
Maris rose from her chair.
“Victor,” she hissed.
He continued.
“The project will not move forward until every dollar connected to it is traced, every victim is identified, and every person responsible is held accountable.”
The screen behind him changed.
It displayed records from Maris Holdings.
Transfer amounts.
Shell companies.
Stolen funds.
And at the bottom, a photograph of Annie standing beside a garbage bag with a tray of bread in her hands.
The entire room went silent.
Victor’s voice broke, but he did not stop.
“My daughter should never have been hungry. My wife should never have been abandoned. And no family name is worth protecting if it requires sacrificing the people you claim to love.”
Maris stared at him.
Then she leaned toward her attorney and whispered something.
Victor did not hear it.
But Daniel did.
His face changed.
“Victor,” Daniel murmured, “we have a problem.”
“What?”
“Maris is gone.”
Victor turned.
The chair where his mother had been sitting was empty.
And on the floor beneath it was a single envelope.
Inside was a photograph of Catherine and Annie entering a car outside the hospital.
May you like
Taken only an hour earlier.
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