DANIEL: "There is a signature associated with the agreement. I have not yet asked you to authenticate it."
Victoria looked down again.
She recognized the shape of the signature printed on the page, but she could not immediately determine whether it was hers. The copy was faint, and the document had been folded at some point before it reached Daniel.
VICTORIA: "I don't remember signing anything like this."
HELEN: "You may not remember every document you signed when you were younger."
VICTORIA: "I remember the important ones."
HELEN: "You were busy. Your father was handling a great deal of paperwork."
VICTORIA: "Then why does this say I agreed to something I have never heard of?"
Helen reached for the document.
Daniel moved it slightly out of reach.
DANIEL: "Please do not remove the page."
HELEN: "I am her mother."
DANIEL: "That does not change the status of the record."
Helen withdrew her hand.
Victoria continued reading.
The agreement appeared to refer to an arrangement involving funds designated for a family member. It did not provide enough information to establish the full purpose of the transfer, but several dates caught her attention.
They corresponded to a period when she had been away from home for extended training.
She remembered that time clearly.
She had been preparing for a demanding qualification and had spent weeks following a schedule that left little room for personal calls. Her father had contacted her once to ask whether she had received a letter from the family attorney.
Victoria had said she had not.
Frank had paused before responding, then told her not to worry about it.
She had assumed he meant a routine piece of correspondence.
Now, staring at the document, she wondered whether that conversation had been more important than she realized.
VICTORIA: "My father asked me about a letter."
Daniel looked at her attentively.
DANIEL: "Do you remember when?"
VICTORIA: "Several years before he died. I was away for training. He asked whether I had received something from the attorney."
DANIEL: "And what did you tell him?"
VICTORIA: "That I hadn't."
DANIEL: "What did he say?"
VICTORIA: "He told me not to worry about it."
Daniel made a note on his legal pad.
DANIEL: "That may be relevant."
HELEN: "Or it may mean absolutely nothing."
DANIEL: "We should not decide that before reviewing the correspondence."
HELEN: "You are determined to make this sound like a scandal."
DANIEL: "I am determined to establish what happened."
Helen looked toward the window.
Outside, the courtyard lights illuminated a narrow path between the trees. The hotel staff had begun moving equipment away from the ballroom entrance, and the gala was gradually returning to its planned schedule.
But inside the conference room, the evening seemed to have stopped.
Victoria read through the first document again.
She had no desire to accuse her mother without evidence. She did not want to turn uncertainty into a conclusion simply because Helen's behavior had become suspicious.
She had spent her career learning to separate what she knew from what she feared, what had been observed from what had merely been assumed.
She would apply the same discipline here.
VICTORIA: "Mr. Cole, I want copies of everything that concerns me."
DANIEL: "That can be arranged."
VICTORIA: "I also want to know whether these documents were ever reviewed by an independent accountant."
DANIEL: "Some of the records were reviewed. I will need to confirm which documents were included in that review."
VICTORIA: "And I want to know whether any agreement bearing my signature was used to authorize a transfer."
DANIEL: "I understand."
HELEN: "You are talking as though you are preparing to sue your own family."
VICTORIA: "I am asking for the records."
HELEN: "You have no idea what the consequences could be."
VICTORIA: "That is precisely why I need to understand them."
Helen pressed her fingertips against her forehead.
For several seconds, she appeared exhausted rather than angry.
When she spoke again, her voice had softened.
HELEN: "Victoria, your father wanted you to have a good life. Everything he did was intended to protect the family."
VICTORIA: "Then the records should make that clear."
HELEN: "You are not listening to me."
VICTORIA: "I have listened to you for most of my life."
Helen looked at her daughter.
Victoria continued, speaking slowly enough that every word was unmistakable.
VICTORIA: "I listened when you said I was too ambitious. I listened when you told relatives that Richard understood responsibility better than I did. I listened when you said I should be grateful for whatever attention you had time to give me. I listened when you insisted that keeping the peace mattered more than asking difficult questions."
Her voice remained steady, but Thomas could see that she was fighting to keep years of frustration from overwhelming her.
VICTORIA: "I am not going to stop listening now. But I am also not going to accept an explanation simply because you want me to."
Helen's eyes filled with tears, although none fell.