Chapter 8 - The Woman at the White-Gold Door
Victoria arrived at the Vu mansion three weeks after Clara’s eviction with six garment cases, two assistants, and a florist who transformed the foyer into a garden of white orchids.
Madam Eleanor greeted her at the front steps.
“Welcome home,” Eleanor said.
Victoria looked up at the stone facade. “It is beautiful.”
“It will be yours soon enough.”
Julian stood behind them, his expression carefully neutral. He had filed for divorce, though Clara’s attorney was contesting the terms. The court had granted temporary custody to him based on the fraudulent paternity report and the allegation that Clara had abandoned the residence.
Leo lived in the east wing now. A tutor supervised his lessons. A child psychologist visited twice a week because he had stopped speaking at school and woke from nightmares calling for his mother.
Julian told himself that the arrangement was temporary. He told himself Clara would eventually admit the truth, accept a settlement, and allow everyone to move forward.
Yet every time he entered Leo’s room, he felt the weight of the lie he could not name.
Victoria approached him with a smile. “You look tired.”
“It’s been a difficult month.”
“Difficult things become easier when the right people are removed.”
Julian glanced toward Eleanor. “Don’t talk about Clara that way.”
Victoria’s brows lifted. “You asked me to join this family.”
“I asked you to help with the merger.”
“Your mother asked me. You agreed.”
Eleanor swept past them. “The board dinner is at eight. Victoria, I arranged for your name to be added to the foundation committee.”
Victoria smiled. “How generous.”
“It is practical. The public prefers a graceful woman beside a troubled executive.”
Julian’s mouth tightened. “I’m not a troubled executive.”
“Then stop behaving like one.”
The new arrangement looked perfect from the outside. Victoria attended charity events beside Julian. She appeared in financial magazines wearing understated jewelry and a calm expression. Eleanor praised her manners, her education, and her family connections. At the first formal dinner, a guest asked whether the wedding date had been set.
Victoria answered before Julian could. “We are allowing the future to unfold naturally.”
Under the table, her hand pressed against his knee.
Julian removed it gently.
That night, he found Leo awake in the library, sitting beneath the grand piano with his stuffed whale in his lap.
“Why aren’t you in bed?” Julian asked.
Leo shrugged.
“Did you have a bad dream?”
Another shrug.
Julian sat on the floor. He had forgotten how uncomfortable the marble felt beneath his knees. “You can tell me anything.”
Leo looked at him. “Are you going to send Victoria away?”
“Why would you ask that?”
“She said Mommy won’t come back.”
Julian’s chest tightened. “When did she say that?”
“Yesterday.”
“She was wrong.”
“But Grandma says Mommy lied.”
Julian stared at the child’s face. Leo had Clara’s patient eyes and the small crease that appeared between his brows when he concentrated. He also had Julian’s habit of tapping his fingers against his knee when nervous.
The report returned to Julian’s mind.
He should have ordered another test.
“Daddy?”
“Yes?”
“If Mommy lied, did she stop loving me?”
Julian reached beneath the piano and pulled Leo into his arms. “No. She could never stop loving you.”
“Did you stop?”
The question left him without words.
In the hallway, Victoria watched through the open door. Her expression was not tender. It was calculating.
Later, in the master suite, she poured herself wine while Julian stood at the window.
“You should not encourage his attachment,” she said.
Julian turned. “He is a child.”
“He is a legal complication.”
“He is my responsibility.”
“The report says otherwise.”
Julian’s face hardened. “Don’t speak about him like that.”
Victoria set down her glass. “If you intend to marry me, you need to decide whether you want a clean future or a sentimental past.”
“I haven’t promised to marry you.”
“Your mother promised.”
“I’m not my mother.”
Victoria smiled. “You are beginning to sound just like her.”
At that moment, Julian’s phone vibrated. A message from the company’s chief financial officer said that another lender had demanded early repayment.
The merger funds were delayed. The board was restless. The legal dispute with Clara was becoming more expensive than expected.
Eleanor had promised that Victoria would make everything stable. Instead, Julian felt as if he were standing on a bridge whose supports were quietly being removed.
Across the city, Clara slept on a borrowed sofa with Leo curled beside her. Her wedding ring remained in its box at the mansion. She had found a part-time job through a former classmate and was waiting for news about a tiny room above a laundromat.
Before dawn, Leo woke and whispered, “Mommy, can we have a house with a yellow door?”
Clara kissed his forehead. “Yes.”
“Can we put cake in the kitchen?”
“As much as we want.”
In the Vu mansion, Julian stood alone in the nursery and touched the empty place where Leo’s favorite wooden boat had once sat.
May you like
He did not know that Clara had carried the boat into the rain. He did not know that the boat’s cracked sail was tucked inside her borrowed suitcase.
He knew only that the house Victoria had entered looked immaculate, and that nothing inside it felt like home.
