Chapter 5 - The Woman in Red Shoes
Emergency lights painted the corridor crimson.
Marcus moved immediately.
He took Lily.
Victor took Emma.
Eleanor Price stayed behind them.
For the first time, she looked less like the aggressor from the ballroom and more like a frightened woman trapped inside something larger than she understood.
Footsteps sounded above.
Slow.
Measured.
Red heels appeared at the top of the hidden staircase.
Helen Ward.
Family attorney.
She did not run.
She carried a folder.
“Victor.”
Marcus stepped between them.
Helen smiled.
“You always did prefer entrances.”
Victor’s eyes remained cold.
“Where is Sarah?”
“I don’t know.”
“Daniel?”
“Also no.”
“Why are your signatures on forged custody papers?”
“They aren’t forged.”
Eleanor Price snapped:
“I never signed those.”
Helen looked at her.
“You did.”
“No.”
“Four months ago.”
Eleanor froze.
Helen reminded her.
Daniel had asked Eleanor to sign documents allowing her to collect Lily from school and authorize emergency medical treatment.
Eleanor signed without reading every page.
The guardianship petition had been embedded among them.
Her signature was real.
Consent was not.
True signature.
False understanding.
Again.
Eleanor had been set up as a potential replacement guardian.
By Daniel?
Helen claimed yes.
Victor refused to accept it without evidence.
“Why would Daniel remove himself as Lily’s father?”
Helen opened the folder.
DNA test.
Daniel Hale was not Lily’s biological father.
Lily stood perfectly still.
Victor’s face changed.
“No.”
Helen handed him the report.
Authentic laboratory.
Daniel had discovered it six weeks earlier.
Sarah admitted an affair.
According to Helen.
But Sarah’s recorded message had warned against Daniel.
Two incompatible stories.
Victor knelt beside Lily.
She looked terrified.
“Is Daddy still Daddy?”
Victor answered carefully.
“Yes.”
“But the paper—”
“Biology is one fact. It does not erase six years.”
Lily hugged her teddy.
Helen watched.
Almost disappointed.
Perhaps she expected Victor to reject Lily.
That reaction mattered.
Victor stood.
“Who is the biological father?”
Helen smiled.
“That’s the problem.”
The test matched another Hale.
Victor’s blood went cold.
Not Daniel.
Another Hale male.
Arthur was dead before Lily was conceived.
Victor?
Impossible unless—
He had never been tested.
The implication was grotesque.
Victor’s expression became murderous.
Helen enjoyed it.
Then Marcus examined the report.
“Sir.”
The test did not say Victor.
It said paternal lineage consistent with Hale family.
Could be another male relative.
Victor had a younger brother.
Thomas.
Dead eight years.
No.
A nephew?
Several.
Daniel had cousins.
Helen had intentionally framed the evidence to provoke the worst interpretation.
Victor looked at her.
“You wanted me to think Sarah slept with me.”
Helen’s smile disappeared.
He had caught it.
“Why?”
No answer.
Marcus’s phone buzzed.
Security team located Daniel.
Alive.
They also found Sarah’s vehicle.
No Sarah.
Then another discovery.
Helen’s car contained a syringe, Sarah’s jewelry and a passport under Sarah’s name.
Damning.
Too damning.
Helen looked genuinely shocked.
“That isn’t mine.”
Victor almost laughed.
Everyone was being framed now.
Evidence had become cheap.
Context was the currency.
Then Emma whispered:
“She’s not the red-shoe lady.”
Victor looked down.
“What?”
Emma pointed at Helen.
“The other lady was taller.”
Same shoes.
Different woman.
Someone had dressed like Helen.
Someone wanted Emma to identify her.
Victor asked Eleanor Price:
“Who else owns those shoes?”
Eleanor’s face changed.
She knew.
“Sarah.”
Victor stared.
Sarah had an identical red pair.
Meaning Emma may have seen Lily’s mother.
Or someone dressed as Sarah.
The mansion speakers suddenly turned on.
Sarah’s voice:
“Victor.”
Everyone looked upward.
Live.
Not recording.
“Take Lily to the ballroom.”
Victor said:
“Where are you?”
“Please.”
“Sarah—”
“If you want Daniel alive, do exactly what I say.”
Lily began crying.
“Mommy?”
Sarah heard her.
Her voice broke.
“Baby…”
Victor looked at the speakers.
“Are you doing this?”
Sarah answered:
“I started it.”
May you like
A pause.
“But someone changed the plan.”
