CHAPTER 3 — THE TRUTH ELENA HID

An hour later, Victor sat alone in his office.

The city lights glittered outside the glass walls.

The kingdom he thought he owned was slipping away minute by minute.

Then I walked in.

For the first time in three years, he looked uncertain around me.

“Elena.”

I remained standing.

“You knew.”

I nodded.

“Since the beginning.”

His jaw tightened.

“All those years?”

“Yes.”

Victor laughed bitterly.

“So our marriage was a lie.”

“No.”

The answer surprised him.

I looked at the skyline.

“I loved the man you pretended to be.”

Silence.

“You had everything, Victor. Talent. Influence. Opportunity.”

His eyes lowered.

“But none of it was enough.”

I placed a small envelope on his desk.

Inside was every photograph.

Every medical report.

Every recording.

Three years of abuse.

His hands trembled.

“What is this?”

“The reason I never fought back.”

Victor looked up.

I met his eyes calmly.

“You thought I was weak.”

I smiled sadly.

“I was gathering evidence.”

For the first time, fear appeared in his face.

Real fear.

The kind that comes when a person finally understands the game ended long ago.

The police arrived twenty minutes later.

And unlike the board members, they had warrants.