Chapter 3: The Phone in Victoria's Hand
James had less than six hours to discover what his wife had done before nightfall.
He knew because he heard Victoria say it.
Not to the stranger downstairs, who left through the front door a few minutes later, but into her phone after she believed the house was empty.
“Six o'clock,” she whispered.
“No later.””
James stood motionless behind the study door.
“Because he has started looking through things,” Victoria continued.
“And if Emily gets out, everything collapses.””
A pause.
Then Victoria laughed softly.
“No. He still trusts me. He just doesn't know what questions to ask yet.””
Her footsteps moved toward the kitchen.
James waited until the refrigerator opened before slipping upstairs.
He needed the police. He needed a way to get Emily out safely. Most of all, he needed to understand why his wife had spoken about their children as if they were part of a business transaction.
But he couldn't simply call the authorities and explain that he had discovered his missing sister locked in a room. Victoria had already prepared a story about Emily being unstable. If she had documents to support it, she could make him sound like the irrational one.
He needed evidence.
The memory card in his pocket felt heavier than it should have.
He locked himself in the bathroom, removed the card from its plastic sleeve, and searched the cabinet for an adapter. After several frantic minutes, he found one in an old electronics box.
He inserted it into his phone.
A single folder appeared.
*PROJECT LILY-NOAH.*
Inside were scanned contracts, medical reports, and audio files.
James opened the first document.
It was a payment agreement between Victoria and a company called Northbridge Family Services. The amount listed was $80,000, with an additional payment scheduled after the twins' birth.
The description read: Private reproductive arrangement—final transfer contingent upon delivery of both infants.
James read it three times.
Reproductive arrangement.
Delivery of both infants.
His mouth went dry.
He opened the next file.
It contained a medical summary bearing the signature of Dr. Adrian Shaw. Several paragraphs had been blacked out, but one line remained visible:
The biological parentage and custodial allocation shall remain confidential until completion of the agreed transfer.
Custodial allocation.
James felt nauseated.
He and Victoria had spent months discussing having children. They had endured appointments, medications, and difficult conversations about the future. Victoria had cried when she first showed him the positive pregnancy test.
He had believed every tear.
Every embrace.
Every promise that their family would finally be complete.
His thumb hovered over an audio file labeled *FINAL CALL—MARCH 3*.
He pressed play.
Victoria's voice filled the bathroom.
“I'm not changing the agreement now,” she said.
“The babies are mine to raise.””
A man's voice responded.
“That isn't what you signed, Victoria.””
“I signed what you told me to sign.””
“You signed an arrangement involving one child. There are two.””
Silence.
Then Victoria spoke, each word clipped and cold.
“Then we'll have to find another solution.””
The recording ended.
James stared at the screen.
One child.
There had been an agreement involving one child.
But there were twins.
He opened another file, a photograph of a handwritten page. Only a few lines were legible.
Original plan: one infant transferred to designated guardians following birth. Second infant remains under Victoria Cole's care pending review.
James stopped breathing for a moment.
Someone had intended to take one of his children.
He didn't know who. He didn't know why. But his wife had known.
A small knock sounded at the bathroom door.
“James?”” Victoria called.
“Are you in there?””
He nearly dropped the phone.
“Yeah.””
“What are you doing?””
“Shaving.””
“That's funny. You shaved this morning.””
He looked at the sink.
His razor lay beside the faucet, dry and untouched.
“I wanted to clean up.””
“Open the door, sweetheart.””
James quickly removed the memory card and slipped it into the pocket of his jeans.
“Give me a minute.””
“James.””
Her voice had changed.
“Open the door.””
He unlocked it.
Victoria stood outside holding a bottle of baby lotion. Her eyes moved from his face to the phone in his hand.
“What were you looking at?””
“Work emails.””
“On a Sunday?””
He said nothing.
She stepped into the bathroom and closed the door behind her.
“Have you been in the study?””
James forced a shrug.
“I went looking for a charger.””
“Did you find anything unusual?””
“No.””
Victoria studied him for so long that he could hear the clock ticking in the hallway.
Then she smiled.
“Good.””
She reached up and straightened his collar.
“Because I would hate to discover that you were hiding things from me.””
Her fingers rested against his throat for a moment before she withdrew them.
“Come downstairs. The babies need feeding.””
James followed her.
At lunch, Victoria behaved like the perfect mother.
She warmed bottles, checked temperatures, and reminded James to eat. She laughed when Noah made a tiny hiccuping sound and kissed Lily's forehead when the little girl began to fuss.
Anyone watching them would have seen a devoted couple adjusting to life with newborn twins.
James saw a woman who had negotiated over the future of a child before that child was born.
He watched her every move.
When Victoria left the table to answer a call, James took the opportunity to open Emily's contact.
He typed: *I found the files. Who was supposed to take one of the babies?*
Three dots appeared.
Then vanished.
A moment later, a reply came.
*I DON'T KNOW THE NAME. BUT I FOUND A RECORDING. IT'S ON MY PHONE.*
James glanced toward the kitchen.
Victoria was still talking.
He typed again.
*Where is your phone?*
Emily's reply arrived almost immediately.
*SHE TOOK IT.*
James looked up.
Victoria had ended her call.
She was standing beside the kitchen counter, holding a black smartphone.
Emily's phone.
James recognized the cracked corner and the faded sticker of a little yellow star on the case. He had given it to his sister for her birthday two years earlier.
Victoria noticed him staring.
“What?”” she asked.
“Where did you get that phone?””
She glanced down at it.
“Oh, this old thing? I found it in the laundry room.””
“That's Emily's.””
Victoria didn't deny it.
Instead, she turned the phone over in her hand and smiled.
“She left it here.””
“Why do you have it?””
“Because I was trying to find out who she's been talking to.””
James stood slowly.
“You went through her phone?””
“I had to.””
“Why?””
“Because your sister has been making accusations about me to people who don't know the truth.””
“What truth?””
Victoria's smile disappeared.
“The truth about our family.””
She placed the phone on the counter.
Then she tapped the screen.
A recording began to play.
Emily's voice came through the speaker, muffled but unmistakable.
“James, if you hear this, Victoria knows about the second file. Don't let her—”
Victoria stopped the recording.
James stared at her.
“There's another file?””
Victoria picked up the phone again.
“Yes.””
“What does it contain?””
“Something Emily should never have found.””
“Then why not give the phone to the police?””
Victoria tilted her head.
“Because, sweetheart, the police would ask questions. Questions that might separate us from our children while they investigate.””
She took a step closer.
“And I know you don't want that.””
James looked toward the living room, where the twins slept in their bassinets.
He wanted to grab the phone.
He wanted to demand answers until she admitted everything.
But Victoria held Emily's phone as casually as if it were a grocery receipt, and James understood that she wasn't frightened of being caught.
She believed she was still in control.
“Give it to me,” he said.
“No.””
“Victoria.””
“James, listen carefully. I have spent months protecting this family. I've made decisions you don't understand because I knew what was at stake.””
“What was at stake?””
She looked at the babies.
“Everything.””
His phone vibrated.
He glanced down.
A new message had arrived from an unknown number.
*IF SHE HAS EMILY'S PHONE, SHE HAS THE RECORDING. DON'T LET HER DELETE IT. THE NAME YOU NEED IS IN THE LAST THIRTY SECONDS.*
James looked up.
Victoria was watching him.
She had seen the message.
Her fingers tightened around Emily's phone.
For the first time since he had known her, she looked genuinely afraid.
Then she did something that left James completely speechless.
She opened Emily's phone, selected the recording, and pressed play.
A man's voice filled the kitchen.
“Victoria, if you're hearing this, the arrangement has changed. The family taking Noah has withdrawn. They want Lily instead.””
James felt the blood drain from his face.
Victoria didn't stop the recording.
The voice continued.
“And if you refuse, we'll tell James what really happened at the clinic. We'll tell him which baby is biologically his.””
James stared at his wife.
The twins were both his.
They had to be.
He remembered holding them for the first time, touching their tiny fingers, and promising that nothing in the world would ever separate them.
Victoria's thumb hovered over the screen.
Then she looked directly at him and said, “James, before you listen to the rest, you need to understand why I chose you.””
The recording crackled.
The man's voice returned.
“Because James Cole was never supposed to be the father.””
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Victoria pressed the phone against her chest.
And from upstairs, behind the locked door, Emily began screaming.
