Samantha looked down at the pieces.
A strange calm came over her.
“It was an email first.”
Olivia almost laughed.
She caught herself.
Victoria’s face twisted.
Samantha crouched and picked up the pieces.
“I’m still going.”
“Then don’t come back.”
Samantha stood.
“I wasn’t planning to.”
That hurt Victoria.
Samantha saw it.
Good.
For once, she let herself think it.
Good.
She turned toward the stairs.
Victoria’s voice followed.
“If you walk away from this family, you leave with what you came into it with.”
Samantha stopped.
“What does that mean?”
“It means your phone belongs to the family plan.”
“Your car is not yours.”
“Your health insurance.”
“Your accounts.”
“Everything.”
Olivia whispered, “Mom, that’s enough.”
Victoria ignored her.
“You think a university makes you independent?”
“Try independence.”
“Then tell me how brave you feel.”
Samantha slowly turned.
“I’d rather be scared somewhere else than comfortable here.”
The front doorbell rang.
Nobody moved.
It rang again.
Victoria closed her eyes.
The Langfords.
Her expression transformed almost instantly.
She pointed at Samantha.
“Upstairs.”
Samantha laughed softly.
“You just told me to leave.”
“Not now.”
“Why?”
“Because there are guests.”
Of course.
Even family collapse had to respect Victoria’s social calendar.
The bell rang a third time.
Evelyn appeared from the hall.
“I’ll get it.”
Victoria hissed, “Where have you been?”
“Working.”
The answer contained enough irony to make Samantha glance at her.
Evelyn opened the mansion doors.
The man standing outside was not Adrian Langford.
He was in his early sixties, tall, Black, impeccably dressed in a charcoal suit and dark overcoat, carrying a leather document case.
Samantha recognized him vaguely.
She had seen him at her father’s funeral.
Malcolm Price.
Richard Collins’s attorney.
Beside him stood another woman from his office and a man carrying a slim file box.
Victoria’s face changed completely.
Not confusion.
Fear.
Samantha noticed.
Malcolm stepped inside.
“Good evening.”
Victoria recovered.
“Malcolm.”
“You’re early.”
“For what?”
He looked toward Samantha.
“Happy birthday.”
Her throat tightened.
“Thank you.”
Victoria stepped forward.
“This is an inappropriate time.”
“I called.”
“I’ve been occupied.”
“I know.”
Malcolm glanced toward the torn Berkeley letter pieces in Samantha’s hand.
Then at the red mark across her cheek.
His expression became still.
“What happened?”
Victoria answered immediately.
“Family disagreement.”
Samantha said nothing.
Malcolm looked at Evelyn.
The housekeeper met his eyes.