Chapter 14 - Victoria Put Grace on Trial
The courtroom was packed.
Victoria arrived in a conservative cream suit with no visible trace of the woman who had swung a hockey stick at Grace.
She looked wounded.
Controlled.
Almost fragile.
Her attorney painted Nathan as an enraged billionaire protecting a former lover.
Grace became the opportunistic housekeeper.
Lily became leverage.
Nathan’s jaw tightened as Victoria’s lawyer asked Grace:
“You accepted employment in Mr. Mercer’s home without informing him he was supposedly your daughter’s father?”
“Yes.”
“And you concealed this for more than a year?”
“Yes.”
“Convenient.”
Grace’s face reddened.
Nathan wanted to stand.
Rebecca touched his arm.
“Let her answer.”
Grace looked directly at Victoria’s attorney.
“I was threatened using the Mercer family’s name. When Evelyn Mercer found me, she asked me not to tell Nathan until she could prove who had manipulated the records. I made a choice I regret because I was afraid.”
The attorney held up the fake bank record.
“Were you paid two million dollars?”
“No.”
“Your name is on the account.”
“My identity was used.”
Victoria watched calmly.
Then Rebecca presented the forensic banking trail.
The money had ended at Hale Strategic Holdings.
Victoria’s composure flickered.
Next came the independently verified DNA test.
99.9997%.
Nathan was Lily’s father.
Then Emily Bennett’s birth records.
Grace descended from Sarah Mercer.
Then Evelyn’s affidavit.
Then Charles’s letter.
Each document removed another piece of Victoria’s story.
But her attorney still had one argument.
“None of this proves Ms. Hale participated in threats against Grace Bennett.”
Rebecca stood.
“No. This does.”
The kitchen footage played.
Victoria appeared above Grace and Lily.
The hockey stick struck Grace.
People in the courtroom gasped.
Nathan couldn’t look at the screen.
He looked at Grace instead.
Her hand shook.
But she didn’t lower her eyes.
Then the second recording played.
Victoria’s voice filled the courtroom.
“You were supposed to take the warning and disappear.”
And then:
“She’s thirty-one percent.”
Victoria’s attorney slowly sat down.
The judge looked over her glasses.
“Ms. Hale, I strongly suggest you consult separate criminal counsel regarding what has just been entered into evidence.”
Victoria’s face drained.
For the first time, Grace looked directly at her.
Not frightened.
Not ashamed.
Simply finished.
But Rebecca still had one piece of evidence left.
May you like
The silver locket.
And Nathan finally learned why Evelyn had insisted it remain closed.
