Chapter 1 - The Push
Victoria Vance hit the marble floor hard enough to knock the breath from her lungs.
For one terrible second, she heard nothing but the sharp crack of her own palm against the tile.
Then came the pain.
It pulled tight across her lower belly.
"My baby."
She curled around herself, one hand braced beneath the curve of her eight-month pregnancy, the other still gripping the legal folder Eleanor had tried to tear away.
Eleanor Vance stood above her in the library, pale with fury.
"You should have left when I told you to."
Victoria looked up. "I came here to save your company."
"You came here to humiliate me."
"No. I came here because Vance Industries has eleven days before the bank freezes its credit lines."
Eleanor's mouth tightened.
"You know nothing about my business."
"I know enough to know forty-two million dollars is missing."
The room went still.
That was the moment Victoria knew she had finally said too much.
Eleanor lunged for the folder.
Victoria pulled it against her chest.
"Don't."
"Give me those papers."
"They aren't yours."
Eleanor grabbed her wrist.
Victoria tried to step back.
The edge of the Persian rug caught beneath her heel.
Eleanor shoved.
Now Victoria was on the floor, fighting to breathe.
"Help!" she screamed. "Julian!"
Footsteps thundered from the hall.
Eleanor's expression changed instantly.
She took one step backward.
Julian Vance came through the doorway and stopped so abruptly his shoulder struck the frame.
"Victoria?"
She reached for him.
"Julian, please."
He was beside her in two seconds.
"Don't move. I've got you."
His hands hovered, terrified to touch the wrong place.
Victoria's face twisted as another cramp rolled through her.
"She pushed me."
Julian looked up at his mother.
Eleanor swallowed. "It was an accident."
"You pushed my pregnant wife?"
"She was waving documents in my face. She lost her balance."
"I didn't lose anything," Victoria said through clenched teeth. "She wanted the papers."
Julian's eyes dropped to the folder beside her.
One page had slid loose.
Across the top, in bold black type, were the words:
STERLING GLOBAL PRIVATE CAPITAL - EMERGENCY TRANSFER AUTHORIZATION.
Eleanor stared at it.
"What is that?"
Julian picked it up.
His face changed as he read.
"Victoria... why does this say you're the beneficial owner?"
Victoria closed her eyes.
This was not how she had planned to tell him.
Not on the floor.
Not with his mother standing over her.
Not while she was afraid their daughter might be coming six weeks early.
"Because Sterling Global belongs to me."
Eleanor laughed once.
"That's impossible."
Victoria looked directly at her.
"No, Eleanor. What's impossible is stealing forty-two million dollars and thinking no one would notice."
A siren sounded in the distance.
Julian looked toward the window.
Eleanor's face drained of color.
Victoria tightened her hand around Julian's sleeve.
"I called the police before I came inside."
Julian looked back at her.
"Why?"
May you like
Victoria glanced at the second page on the floor.
"Because I knew what your mother would do when she saw the audit."
