Chapter 4: Victoria’s Cold Ultimatums

Valkyrie's POV

Twenty-four hours earlier.

The air in the tea room in South Yarra was sweet, heavy with the smell of crushed chamomile and costly silk.

Outside, Melbourne's skyline remained dry and was illuminated by the pale gold of a fading autumn afternoon, totally ignorant of the storm which was waiting to tear my life apart.

Victoria Vance was sitting across the low marble table.

She held her porcelain cup with a carelessness that was at the same time terrifying, her platinum blonde bob cut so precisely that it appeared to have been carved from ice.

Everywhere you looked, there was the show of her vast wealth, from her perfectly tailored blazer to the large diamond band on her index finger.

She had not touched her tea at all; she just stared at me with those pale blue eyes, which were cold and completely lacking any human warmth.

“You're five minutes late, Valkyrie," she remarked, her voice smooth and almost melodic, at the same time having the force of an iron hammer.

"You should really get rid of that habit if you hope to continue swimming in deep waters."

I squeezed my handbag more tightly as I sat there, pulling my posture into a straight position and saying, "I'm here because you mentioned it was concerning Chloe's medical board review, Victoria. If this is yet another effort on your part to offer me a cash settlement so that I'll leave Kaelen, you're wasting your time."

Victoria emitted a gentle, amused hum and placed the teacup down silently so that it didn't make a sound on the saucer.

"Oh, my dear girl, you still believe this is all about money. What a wonderfully naive thing to think."

She took a thick, unmarked Manila folder from her leather handbag and slowly slid it across the table to me.

She told me to open it.

My chest tightened.

As I reached out and opened the cover with cold fingers, a deep fear gathered in the bottom of my stomach.

Within were the official medical records printed on the letterhead of the St. Jude Private Care Facility.

As I looked over the technical jargon, the dosage charts, and the nurse entries with timestamps, my heart suddenly ceased to beat.

Patient: Chloe Callender.

Report of an incident involving the unauthorised administration of high-risk neurotoxins through the main IV line.

Logs for authorized visitor access – secondary attachment.

My name appeared in the visitor logs, standing out in bright, glaring yellow, for different dates over the past month; on each occasion I had gone to see my bedridden sister, to sit with my bedridden sister and do her hair.

What is all this? My voice trembled as a sudden rush of adrenaline shot through my veins.

This is madness. I never put anything into Chloe's IV pipe! I don't even touch her medical tubes!

No matter what you have done, Valkyrie, Victoria replied, her face showing no alteration, as though she were talking about the weather.

What is important is what this file states; it has the official stamp of the hospital's chief medical officer and includes affidavits signed by two senior nurses attesting that you asked for unsupervised access to her medication port.

"They're lying!" I struck the table with my hand, causing the silver spoons to rattle against the porcelain.

Some of the customers at the adjacent tables looked over, but Victoria didn't so much as flinch; instead, she tilted her head and her cold eyes narrowed.

"Of course they are lying," she said in a smooth tone as she leaned forward.

Her voice fell to a thin whisper that froze me to the bone.

"I pay their salaries, Valkyrie. I control the board of that hospital. I own the specialists who are keeping your sister's lungs inflated every three seconds. If I tell those doctors that you are gradually poisoning your sister out of mercy, then that will be the truth the police will record."

The room swayed. Around the edges of my vision, my sight became blurred as the horror of the trap she had set tightened around my throat.

"Why," I managed to get out, my eyes stinging with a mixture of rage and helplessness, "are you treating us like this? Kaelen loves me, and I love him too! I've never taken a single cent from your family!"

"That is exactly why you are dangerous," Victoria snarled, the sophisticated exterior briefly giving way to show the crude hatred underneath.

"You're an orphan with no background and no money, a girl who has a sister who is dying and who has been brought into my son's life by some cheap contractual deal. He has now turned a blind eye to you, but I have not. You're a stain on the Vance name, and I'm not going to let you inherit half of Vance Global."

From her bag, she took out a second document, which was a single page printed on thick bond paper, together with a sleek Montblanc pen.

"Here are your choices," Victoria said as she tapped the paper. "Within twenty-four hours, a serious corporate leak is going to be directly linked to your personal computer at the penthouse. You will end up taking the blame; you will make Kaelen think that you had sold him out; you will sign the pre-written confession, take your suitcase, and disappear forever from his life."

"What if I refuse?" I squeezed my eyes shut, and my heart began to beat like that of a trapped animal.

"What if I go to Kaelen at once and show him this folder? What if I tell him you forged this…"

"Before you have even got to the elevator of his office building," Victoria interrupted, her voice dead, flat, and absolute, "I will personally sign the executive order which disconnects Chloe's life support. Her ventilator will be switched off, and her medication stopped, and by the time you get to her room, she will be cold."

I sucked in my breath silently.

I looked at the woman opposite me, gazing into the eyes of a monster devoid of any sense of remorse, hesitation, or humanity.

She had a knife pressed directly against my sister's heart and was waiting for me to bleed.

"You wouldn't," I whispered, and my voice broke into a fragile sob.

"She's an innocent girl..."

"Try me, Valkyrie," Victoria whispered, and slid the pen into my hand, which was shaking.

"Check whether I hesitate to protect our family's bloodline from someone like you."

The silence existing between us was like a terribly painful wire, trembling under the unbearable burden of my decision.

If I were to save Chloe, I would have to destroy myself; I would have to leave Kaelen hating me, and I would have to become the monster that he would drive out into the storm.

I pressed the tip of the pen to the paper with trembling fingers.

Present moment….

The memory disappeared, breaking up immediately upon encountering the reality of the St. Kilda motel room.

The door was wide open to the howling gale outside, and the neon light buzzed vigorously, throwing long, bloody red shadows across the floorboards.

Kaelen walked completely into the room, the rainwater from his long dark coat dripping onto the thin carpet.

His wide frame occupied the doorway and blocked off my only means of escape.

Yet when he looked down at me, at my pale, terrified face, my shaking hands, and the small pocket knife which I was pointing at his chest, his silver eyes did not display the furious look that he had shown in the penthouse.

They had in their possession something even more terrible.

"Put the knife down, Valkyrie," Kaelen said, his voice terrifyingly quiet and echoing in the small room.

He then took a slow step towards me and reached into the inner pocket of his coat.

"I never traced your location to carry out what took place at the penthouse."

He removed a thick folder made of black leather, which was bound with the official seal of the Victoria State Supreme Court, and placed it down on the mattress between us.

An hour ago, I discovered the hospital records in the private safe belonging to my mother, and now... you're coming with me. Kaelen whispered, tightening his jaw as a cold and dangerous expression appeared in his eyes.