Chapter 8 - PATRICIAI expected a monster.
Instead, Victoria Mercer looked tired.
She sat behind reinforced glass in a secured interview room.
Her hair was dark now, streaked with gray.
The shape of her eyes was exactly as I remembered.
When I entered, her expression broke.
“Avie.”
My stomach twisted.
“Don't call me that.”
She nodded.
“All right.”
Agent Cho sat beside me.
Victoria looked at him.
“I said alone.”
“No.”
“Then I won't talk.”
I stood to leave.
She immediately said, “Richard didn't intend to kill Sienna.”
I stopped.
“Sit down.”
I did.
Victoria leaned toward the glass.
“He intended to frighten Caleb.”
“How?”
“Richard knew Caleb had recorded his father accepting a bribe.”
“Then why sabotage the car?”
“He loosened a brake fitting.”
Cho asked, “You witnessed this?”
“Yes.”
“What was his objective?”
“He wanted the brakes to become soft. Not fail completely.”
I stared at her.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
She looked at me.
“I'm telling you what happened.”
“Why were you there?”
“I was following Richard.”
“Why?”
“Because I knew he had found out about Caleb.”
“You were our nanny.”
“I was many things.”
“You slept in our house.”
“Yes.”
“You raised us.”
Her eyes filled.
“Yes.”
“While sleeping with my father?”
Cho glanced at me.
Victoria did not.
“For part of that time.”
I felt sick.
“Did Mom know?”
“No.”
“Did Claudia?”
“Yes.”
Of course she did.
Every secret had another secret beneath it.
Victoria continued.
“I loved Richard once.”
“Did you try to kill Mom?”
She closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
At least she didn't lie.
“And us.”
“No.”
“We were in the car.”
“I thought Elena was going alone.”
“So trying to murder my mother was acceptable?”
“No.”
She swallowed.
“Nothing about what I did was acceptable.”
“Why should I believe anything else you say?”
“You shouldn't.”
That answer surprised me.
“Then give Agent Cho facts he can verify.”
Victoria nodded.
She gave him dates.
Account numbers.
Names.
Storage units.
Offshore entities.
Then Cho returned to Harbor Road.
“What did Richard do to the brakes?”
“He loosened the fitting enough to create a slow leak.”
“Did you alter it afterward?”
Victoria stared at him.
“No.”
“Samuel Pike’s diagnostic system shows the hood open for eleven minutes.”
“I opened it.”
“Why?”
“To repair what Richard had done.”
I leaned forward.
“You fixed it?”
“I tried.”
“What happened?”
“Richard came back.”
She looked at me.
“I heard him and closed the hood before I finished.”
“So the car was still dangerous.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you stop Sienna?”
“I tried.”
“You called me instead.”
“I called you because Richard was watching the front of the house.”
“You could have called 911.”
“I didn't trust them.”
“Then call anyone!”
My voice broke.
“You sent a fourteen-year-old girl on a bicycle after a car you knew might lose its brakes!”
Victoria started crying.
“I know.”
“No. Don't cry.”
I stood.
“You don't get to cry like you're another victim.”
Cho gently said my name.
I ignored him.
“Ethan died.”
“I know.”
“I burned.”
“I know.”
“Sienna spent four years believing a false story.”
“I know.”
“And you disappeared.”
Victoria nodded.
“That was cowardice.”
“Yes.”
I hated how readily she accepted every accusation.
Anger needs resistance.
She gave me none.
I sat again.
“Why come back now?”
“Claudia died.”
“You knew?”
“She sent me a message before she passed.”
“What did it say?”
Victoria looked toward Maya, watching through the adjacent observation room.
“Finish it.”
Maya heard through the speaker.
Her face crumpled.
Victoria continued.
“Claudia and I hated each other for years.”
“Because of Dad?”
“At first.”
“Then?”
“Because we reminded each other of what we'd tolerated.”
That sentence landed hard.
Women building hatred around a man who harmed them both.
It sounded uncomfortably familiar.
My resentment toward Sienna.
Sienna’s toward me.
Dad had benefited from every fracture.
Victoria continued.
“Claudia eventually started gathering evidence. I helped her.”
“You were the source?”
“Sometimes.”
“Why not expose Dad yourself?”
“Because I had committed crimes for him too.”
There it was.
Self-preservation.
“So you waited.”
“Yes.”
“Until Claudia died?”
“Until Maya was old enough that Richard couldn't use custody threats against Claudia anymore.”
Cho asked, “Why send the evidence to Margaret?”
“Because if I sent it directly to law enforcement, Richard might learn about the investigation before the girls learned the truth.”
I frowned.
“Why did we need to know first?”
Victoria looked at me.
“Because I knew what Sienna planned for the birthday party.”
Sienna appeared in the observation-room window.
She looked horrified.
“How?”
“I monitor public posts.”
“That's creepy.”
“Yes.”
Even Cho nearly smiled.
Victoria continued.
“I saw Sienna joking about exposing your scars.”
My face burned.
“So you decided to expose Dad.”
“I sent Margaret enough information to make her attend.”
“You couldn't know I'd reveal everything.”
“No.”
“What if I hadn't?”
“I planned to.”
“How?”
She looked at the party video.
“I was one of the catering supervisors.”
My stomach dropped.
She had been there.
I remembered a dark-haired woman near the service entrance.
I had walked past her.
She had watched me.
“Why didn't you stop Sienna humiliating me?”
Victoria looked ashamed.
“Because I thought anger might finally make you speak.”
I laughed in disbelief.
“You manipulated me too.”
“Yes.”
“You're exactly like him.”
That hurt her.
Good.
She whispered, “In ways I spent years refusing to admit.”
For a moment, I saw why my father had kept people like Victoria around.
They became so compromised that exposing him meant exposing themselves.
He built prisons without bars.
Agent Cho asked, “Can you prove Richard tampered with the vehicle?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I took a photograph.”
She gave him access to an encrypted cloud account.
A timestamped image appeared.
Dad.
Leaning over the open hood of his convertible.
11:37 p.m.
A tool in his hand.
Sienna saw it through the glass.
She turned away.
Cho asked, “Anything else?”
“Audio.”
The recording played.
Dad’s voice:
Caleb needs to understand actions have consequences.
Victoria:
What did you do?
Nothing that won't teach him a lesson.
Richard, what did you touch?
Mind your business.
Victoria:
Your daughter could drive that car.
Dad laughed.
Sienna can't even reach the pedals comfortably.
Then footsteps.
End.
He had not known she would take it.
At least not when he sabotaged it.
Then forty minutes later, he handed her the keys.
Knowing.
A different kind of horror.
He did not plan to kill Sienna when he damaged the car.
He simply decided the risk became acceptable later.
Agent Cho said, “Why?”
Victoria shook her head.
“I've asked myself that for four years.”
“Your best guess.”
“He was panicking.”
“That's not enough.”
“No.”
Victoria stared at the table.
“Richard had just learned Sienna found Claudia’s letters. He knew Caleb had the recording. Suddenly two secrets were colliding at once.”
She looked at me.
“Your father is brilliant when he's in control.”
“And when he isn't?”
“He destroys whatever is nearest.”
I thought of my family.
Accurate.
Cho continued questioning her for hours.
By afternoon, prosecutors had enough for a much larger case.
Obstruction.
Witness intimidation.
Financial crimes.
Bribery.
Evidence destruction.
Reckless endangerment.
Possible manslaughter-related charges would depend on state prosecutors and statutes.
But the evidence against Dad had become overwhelming.
Victoria would also face prosecution.
She knew that.
Before agents took her away, she looked at me.
“I don't expect forgiveness.”
“Good.”
“But I need you to know something.”
“What?”
“When you were born, you weighed four pounds, nine ounces.”
I stared at her.
“Sienna was five pounds, two.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because your mother was recovering from surgery, and Richard was overseas.”
Tears filled Victoria’s eyes.
“I sat beside both incubators every night for nine days.”
I remembered none of it.
“I loved you.”
I wanted to hate that sentence.
Instead, it hurt.
“Then you should have protected us better.”
She nodded.
“Yes.”
Agents led her away.
Sienna entered the room.
For several minutes, we sat silently.
Then she said, “Maya wants to see us.”
“Why?”
“She found something in Claudia’s files.”
We joined her in the living room.
Maya had been crying.
On the table sat an old videotape that agents had digitized.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Your hospital.”
I froze.
“The night of the crash?”
“No.”
Maya looked at me.
“After.”
She pressed play.
A hospital room appeared.
I was fourteen.
Bandaged.
Unconscious.
Dad and Mom stood near the bed.
A doctor spoke quietly.
Her burns will require extensive reconstruction.
Mom cried.
Dad asked:
Will she remember the accident?
The doctor looked confused.
Eventually, probably.
Dad:
And if she doesn't?
Mom turned toward him.
Richard.
The doctor left.
Then our parents began arguing.
Mom:
We have to tell Sienna.
Dad:
Absolutely not.
Avery saved her life.
And if Sienna finds out, she will confess everything.
She's fourteen!
Exactly. She'll tell anyone who asks.
Mom stared at him.
Then Dad said:
One damaged daughter is enough.
I stopped breathing.
Sienna covered her mouth.
Mom on the recording whispered:
Don't call Avery damaged.
Dad looked at my unconscious body.
Look at her.
Sienna started sobbing beside me.
But the recording continued.
Dad said:
She'll never be like Sienna now.
I felt something inside me crack.
Not because I believed him.
Because I had spent four years unknowingly living beneath that sentence.
The ugly twin.
The damaged twin.
The one who should stay covered.
Sienna paused the video.
“No.”
She wiped her tears.
“No more.”
“What?”
She turned toward me.
“Dad doesn't get to define you.”
“I know.”
“No.”
Her voice became fierce.
“I don't think you do.”
Then she did something I never expected.
She opened her phone.
Started a livestream.
Her followers began joining by the thousands.
“Sienna, what are you doing?”
She looked into the camera.
“My name is Sienna Sterling.”
Within seconds, eighty thousand people were watching.
“Last night, I publicly humiliated my twin sister.”
I stared at her.
“She saved my life four years ago, and I repaid her by making her ashamed of the scars she got saving me.”
Her voice shook.
“I can't undo it.”
The viewer count climbed.
“But I can make sure the world hears this from me.”
She turned the camera toward herself.
“My sister Avery is not damaged.”
Then back toward me.
“She is the bravest person I have ever known.”
I whispered, “Stop.”
Sienna shook her head.
“No. You had to stand in front of everyone because of me.”
She faced the camera again.
May you like
“So now I will.”
And for the first time in four years, my sister stood beside me instead of on top of me.
