Chapter 2 - The Fall of Vance
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David stared at me in shock before nodding once and darting back up the basement stairs.
Left alone in the dark, I closed my eyes as memories flooded my mind. Six years ago, I entered this estate not as a victim, but as Victoria Vance, the only daughter of the legendary Vance family.
My father had built Vance Enterprises into a construction and private-equity empire worth tens of billions. My older brother, Thomas, had become the youngest CEO ever featured on the cover of a major American business magazine.
On my wedding day, eighty-eight luxury sports cars stretched from Fifth Avenue all the way to Greenwich. Two thousand high-society guests filled our waterfront estate in the Hamptons.
Julian Kensington had lifted my lace veil, looked deep into my eyes, and promised, "Victoria, I'm going to treat you like a queen for the rest of my life."
I had believed every word.
Three years into our marriage, Julian brought Maya Lawson into our home. He claimed she had saved him after a car wreck outside Westchester and needed a quiet place to recover.
She never left.
Over the next three years, I went from being Julian's beloved wife to an inconvenience, and finally to someone he believed he could erase entirely.
That morning, Maya had appeared outside my bedroom carrying a bowl of hot soup. I asked the maid not to let her in, but Maya stood outside my door until noon.
When I finally stepped into the hallway, Maya looked me dead in the eye, smiled, and threw herself backward down the grand staircase before I could even reach out. The soup spilled all over her clothes, burning her skin.
Then Julian arrived. He didn't ask questions. He simply watched from the hallway balcony while his private security men beat me mercilessly.
"Julian, I didn't touch her!" I had screamed.
"Keep going," Julian had told his men calmly.
"I swear on my life!"
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"Continue."
For three straight hours, they brutalized me. When I lost consciousness, they threw buckets of ice water over my face and started again, until my bones gave way.
