Chapter 7 - The Daughter Who Knew Nothing
Victoire Delacroix had never imagined she could be afraid inside her own father’s home.
That changed the night after the hearing.
She entered her bedroom and found a photograph on the pillow.
It showed her sleeping in Milan eighteen months earlier.
The exact photograph her father had described in court.
On the back, someone had written four words.
YOUR FATHER FAILED AGAIN.
Victoire screamed.
Security arrived within seconds.
Étienne followed.
Then Camille.
Victoire looked at her with fury.
“What are you doing here?”
Camille ignored the hostility.
“Who entered this room?”
“No one.”
“Clearly someone did.”
Victoire folded her arms.
“This is your fault.”
Étienne started to speak.
Camille stopped him.
“Let her.”
Victoire’s eyes filled with tears she refused to release.
“You came here pretending to serve drinks.”
“Yes.”
“You humiliated my family.”
“You pushed me into a pool.”
“You could have told me who you were.”
“And then what?”
Victoire had no answer.
Camille stepped closer.
“Would you have treated me differently?”
Victoire looked away.
“That was the point.”
Victoire’s anger weakened.
For the first time, embarrassment replaced it.
Camille did not need an apology yet.
She needed information.
“Who called you before the party?”
Victoire froze.
Étienne looked at her.
“What call?”
Camille continued.
“A prepaid phone contacted you seventeen minutes before I arrived.”
Victoire’s face changed.
Étienne stepped forward.
“Victoire.”
She sat on the edge of the bed.
“A man called.”
“What man?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did he say?”
Victoire stared at the photograph on the pillow.
“He said a waitress would be assigned to our table.”
Camille felt the answer coming.
“And?”
“He said she had been stealing.”
Étienne closed his eyes.
Victoire continued.
“He said she was trying to embarrass the family.”
Camille asked quietly.
“Did he tell you to confront me?”
“Yes.”
“To create a scene?”
Victoire nodded.
“To have people record it?”
Another nod.
Étienne looked devastated.
“You never told me.”
Victoire snapped.
“Because I thought I was protecting you.”
Camille saw the truth.
Victoire had been manipulated through the one weakness Vesper understood perfectly.
Her ego.
The caller had not ordered her to push Camille.
He only needed to make sure Victoire became angry enough to do something reckless.
Camille asked another question.
“Did he offer anything?”
Victoire hesitated.
Her father noticed.
“What?”
She looked down.
“He said if I exposed the thief publicly, he could help with Milan.”
Étienne went still.
Camille frowned.
“What happened in Milan?”
Victoire did not answer.
Étienne’s expression became severe.
“Victoire.”
She finally looked up.
“I owed money.”
“How much?”
“Two hundred thousand.”
Étienne stared at her.
“For what?”
“Investments.”
“What investments?”
“Crypto.”
Étienne laughed in disbelief.
Victoire looked ashamed.
“I was desperate.”
Camille understood.
The unknown caller had found her debts.
He had offered relief.
Victoire had become a weapon without realizing it.
“Did the debt disappear?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“The morning after the party.”
Camille looked at Étienne.
There was the financial link.
“Account details.”
Victoire reluctantly handed over her phone.
Julian began tracing the repayment.
Three minutes later, he looked up.
“The payment came through a Maltese company.”
Morel asked.
“Owner?”
Julian’s expression sharpened.
“Northstar Meridian.”
Everyone went silent.
The same company that received the missing twelve million.
Camille turned to Victoire.
“You were paid with money stolen from your father’s development.”
Victoire looked sick.
“I didn’t know.”
“I believe you.”
Victoire stared at her.
It was not the response she expected.
Camille continued.
“But someone wanted investigators to discover this.”
Étienne frowned.
“Why?”
“To make Victoire look involved.”
Morel nodded.
“Separate father and daughter.”
“And give prosecutors another suspect.”
Julian suddenly raised his hand.
“Wait.”
He enlarged the transaction history.
“The payment originated from a sub-account.”
“Name?” Camille asked.
Julian stared at the screen.
“Amelia Grant Legal Services.”
Camille felt something inside her break.
Amelia had not merely joined Vesper recently.
Her company had been moving Vesper money at least eighteen months earlier.
Possibly longer.
Camille walked toward the window.
Behind her, Victoire spoke.
“You trusted her.”
Camille did not answer.
“Yes,” Victoire said quietly.
Camille turned.
Victoire’s expression was different now.
No arrogance.
Only recognition.
“You trusted her the way I trusted whoever called me.”
Camille almost rejected the comparison.
Then realized Victoire was right.
Both of them had believed someone because believing was easier than questioning.
Camille nodded once.
“Yes.”
Victoire stood.
“What do we do now?”
Étienne stared at his daughter.
Camille did too.
Two nights earlier, Victoire had shoved her into a pool for entertainment.
Now she was asking to help.
Camille gave her a phone.
“You call the number back.”
“It won’t work.”
“Try.”
Victoire dialed.
The call connected.
Everyone froze.
A man answered.
“Victoire.”
She nearly dropped the phone.
Camille motioned for her to continue.
Victoire forced herself to speak.
“You said the waitress was nobody.”
A pause.
Then the man laughed.
“She was supposed to become nobody.”
Camille recognized the voice.
Not Luc Morel.
Not Henri Voss.
Someone else.
Victoire continued.
“You lied to me.”
“No.
I used you.”
Her face tightened.
Camille silently gestured.
Ask about E-17.
Victoire swallowed.
“My father told me about the warehouse.”
The line went silent.
Then the man’s voice changed.
“Your father told you what?”
“The thing under E-17.”
Étienne stared at Camille.
It was a bluff.
The caller did not know that.
“What exactly did he tell you?”
Victoire looked at Camille.
She improvised.
“That Camille already found it.”
Another silence.
Then the call ended.
Julian looked at the trace.
“Got him.”
Morel moved beside him.
“Where?”
Julian zoomed in.
The signal originated from Marseille.
Near the Azure Crown redevelopment.
May you like
More precisely.
Inside Warehouse E-17.
