CHAPTER 3: The Woman at Gate Twelve
Daniel reached Logan International Airport twenty minutes before Victoria’s flight was scheduled to depart.
Eleanor’s security team moved through the terminal while airport officials reviewed passenger records.
Victoria had purchased a ticket to Switzerland under her mother’s maiden name.
Charles Wynn was booked on the same flight.
Daniel found them near Gate Twelve.
Charles wore a baseball cap and dark glasses. Victoria had dyed her hair and covered it beneath a silk scarf.
They almost reached the boarding line before two federal agents stepped in front of them.
“Mr. Wynn, step away from the gate.”
Victoria froze.
Charles immediately turned toward her.
“You said no one knew.”
Victoria stepped back.
“This was your plan.”
“You introduced me to the accounts!”
Passengers began gathering around them.
Several recognized Victoria from the television interview and raised their phones.
Daniel approached slowly.
Victoria’s face went pale.
“You followed me?”
“You stole from my family.”
“I didn’t steal anything.”
Charles laughed bitterly.
“She designed the entire plan.”
“Shut up,” Victoria snapped.
One of the agents removed a laptop from Charles’s carry-on bag.
Inside were copies of confidential company files, forged authorizations, and messages exchanged between him and Victoria.
Daniel read one message aloud.
“Once the wedding is legal, Daniel will sign anything I put in front of him.”
Victoria’s confident expression disappeared.
“That message is out of context.”
Daniel scrolled farther.
Another message read:
“His mother is the only obstacle. If Eleanor refuses to transfer the shares, we’ll have her declared mentally unfit.”
Daniel looked up.
“You planned to take control of my mother’s company and place her under guardianship.”
Victoria’s eyes filled with tears.
This time, they were real.
“I was scared,” she whispered. “I grew up with nothing.”
“So did my father,” Daniel replied. “He never destroyed people to escape it.”
Charles suddenly pushed past an agent and ran toward the emergency exit.
He made it less than ten feet before security tackled him to the floor.
Victoria stood motionless as the agents placed her in handcuffs.
“You can’t let them do this,” she begged Daniel. “We were supposed to be a family.”
Daniel stared at the woman he had once intended to marry.
“A family was exactly what you tried to steal.”
As the agents led her away, Victoria turned back.
Her expression was no longer frightened.
It was furious.
“You think this ends with me?” she shouted. “Ask your mother what really happened to your father!”
Daniel stopped breathing.
The terminal fell silent around him.
Victoria smiled coldly.
May you like
“She never told you, did she?”
Then the elevator doors closed between them.
