CHAPTER TEN
1148 Words
CONTROLLED CRASHOUT
VICTORIA’S POV
I didn't cry when I left Jake’s house.
That would have meant that I had lost.
Instead, I drove with my spine straight, hands steady on the wheels, replaying every word like a chessboard resetting itself in my head. Jake thought he had won because he raised his voice and threatened me, reminding me of the man he used to be.
He forgot something.
I made that man.
The house disappeared in my rearview mirror, swallowed by iron gates and its arrogance carried. That was my arrogance, once. I had helped design that illusion of safety. I had taught him which doors to lock and which ones to leave open just enough for him to escape, just in case.
And now, he dared to tell me where my place was.
It was all because of that b***h….Lexi.
Even her name tasted cheap.
She had arrived quietly, slipped through the cracks Jake never noticed because he was too busy playing savior. Women like her always did this. She had no history, lineage, or held no weight in the social world. She just has a wide eye and a wounded act that makes men feel useful. I had seen it a thousand times in different galas and parties I went to with Jake.
And Jake, he was changed.
That was the real threat.
It was not the guards, or the enemies, or even his f****d up past.
It was that f*****g change.
Men like Jake rarely change unless something is wrong or someone has gotten under his skin, rewired his priorities, and softened the edges that were meant to stay sharp. He used to understand leverage and that people were either assets or liabilities.
Now, he was calling a strange ‘a line I could not cross.’
Well, he crossed one first.
I heard Sophia’s laughter in my head. People love to pretend motherhood was about instinct and biology but it wasn't. Motherhood was about the access it gave you to a man’s life.
Sophia was my strongest card, the only reason Jake ever listened to me, the only reason that doors would still open for me in a room I'm no longer in control of. The public adored that image–the composed mother who was wronged by a dangerous man and was protecting her child from his chaotic life.
They didn't need to know the truth…..That I have never wanted a child. Sophia was never about the love I had for her, but for the money, power, and visibility, and a permanent tie to a man who had it all. ]
Jake didn't understand that love was replaceable but influence wasn't. And Lexi was threatening to replace me.
Not as a mother, no, that would be laughable. She could never replace me as Sophia’s mother. She was trying to replace me as the woman whose opinion mattered in Jake’s house. The woman Sophai ran to first and the woman whose absence Jake would notice.
It was unacceptable.
I walked inside my house, kicked off my heels, and poured myself a glass of wine which I gulped. My reflection in the darkened window looked calm and untouched, which was good.
Fear was only useful when it was controlled.
I picked up my phone and dialed a number I hadn't used in months. He picked up at the second ring.
“Mrs. Hale,” a man answered smoothly. “Its been a while.”
“Daniel,” I said. “I need a background check.”
A pause. “On?”
“A woman named Lexi. She has no last name confirmed yet, but she is in her early twenties and she has recently inserted herself in Jake’s house.”
“Do we know if she exists legally?”
“That's what I am paying you to find out.”
Another pause came, longer this time. He knew better than to ask stupid questions. “Is it the standard sweep?”
“Yes,” I said. “I want everything. Employment records, debts, aliases, shelters, hospital, and criminal databases–local and international. I want to know who she was before Jake employed her.”
“And if there’s nothing?”
I smiled. “Then she is lying.”
After she ended the call, I didn't feel relief but more anticipation. Daniel was only the beginning. Some fires needed accelerants.
I scrolled up to a contact saved under a name that meant nothing to anyone but me…..M
The call connected on the second ring. “Victoria,” a voice said, amused. “I was wondering when you would resurface.”
“I need information..” I replied. “I need it quietly.”
A soft chuckle. “That depends. Are you curious or is someone about to meet his maker?”
I leaned against the counter, my eyes sharp. “A woman has attached herself to someone important. I just want to know if she is clean.”
“And if she isn't?"
“Then I would need leverage.”
The silence that followed was choking, “You always did prefer to burn the earth to get what you want.”
“I prefer control.”
He hummed in agreement. “The person you want information on, I get that she is affiliated with Jake?”
I was surprised how he knew that so fast. “Yes, and what’s the problem?”
“You do know that Jake has some history with us, right?”
“Yes, I know.” I shivered in fright at the thought of Jake finding out what I was up to.
“And you are still calling?”
“Yes….”
He chuckled. “I love your confidence, mi amore. Send me what you have. Names, photos, all that stuff and I would see what I can get of these streets.”
“Noted,” I said and ended the call.
My house went quiet waiting for my next move because I was boiling in rage. Jake thought I was one of those people he could scare and have his way with. But what he really did was remind me why I had survived him in the first place.
If Lexi thinks for one minute that she is safe because Jake was with her, then she doesn't understand the kind of danger that was coming.
I walked up the stairs, past the framed photos of Sophia at different ages. I stopped at the one where Jake stood beside us. She was younger and he was already slipping away from me, even then.]
“You should have listened when I talked, Jake,” I murmured to his picture.
If I couldn't control that house….Then I would burn it down. And when the ashes settled, then Jake would learn the same lesson everyone eventually did.
Nothing in his life existed without my permission.
- Writer
