Chapter 48 - The Sister Who Came BackVictoria Thorne arrived at the federal office wearing a plain gray coat.
Six months earlier, Claire would not have recognized her without designer jewelry, professional makeup, and an audience to admire her.
Now Victoria looked exhausted.
Her eyes were swollen from crying.
"Where are Beatrice and Eleanor?" Claire asked.
"Still in Portugal."
"Are they safe?"
"For now."
Victoria sat opposite her.
For several minutes, neither woman spoke.
Finally, Victoria reached into her handbag and withdrew an old leather folder.
"I found these before the marshals seized Father's private office."
Claire opened it.
Inside were handwritten entries documenting years of transfers between Thorne Global and European shell companies.
Several were marked with Claire's initials.
But she recognized immediately that she had never approved them.
"They used my name," Claire whispered.
Victoria nodded.
"Father told us you were doing the accounting. He said you were brilliant with numbers but emotionally unstable. That was why you couldn't appear before the board."
Claire looked up.
"And you believed him."
"Yes."
"You mocked me for eating in the kitchen."
Victoria's face crumpled.
"I know."
"You told people I was only employed by the family out of charity."
"I know."
Claire closed the folder.
"Then why should I trust you now?"
Victoria wiped her cheeks.
"Because I testified against Silas at the cathedral. Because I know what Father's companies did. And because I'm tired of pretending I didn't see what happened to you."
Claire's expression remained guarded.
"Feeling guilty isn't the same as changing."
"No," Victoria whispered. "It isn't."
She opened the folder to a page marked with a red tab.
"This is why I'm here."
The document listed several charitable organizations supposedly controlled by the Thorne Foundation.
Claire recognized the names.
She had personally donated money to two of them.
But the bank accounts attached to the organizations were unfamiliar.
"These aren't the original accounts," she said.
Victoria nodded.
"Beatrice authorized the changes."
Claire looked sharply at her.
"Beatrice knew?"
"She signed the documents Father gave her. She says she thought it was routine."
"Did she ask?"
"No."
"Then she needs to tell investigators exactly what she did."
Victoria lowered her head.
"She's afraid she'll go to prison."
Claire sat quietly.
She remembered how Beatrice had laughed while Arthur refused to let her sit at the family table.
She remembered all the small humiliations no one had ever apologized for.
But she also remembered her mother's warning about allowing greed to become a family inheritance.
"Tell Beatrice I'll help her obtain a lawyer," Claire said. "I won't buy her innocence. She has to tell the truth."
Victoria looked at her in disbelief.
"After everything?"
"Don't misunderstand me. We aren't suddenly a happy family."
Claire pushed the folder toward Reyes.
"But if we're going to end what Arthur built, we start by refusing to lie for him."
That evening, Gabriel traced the suspicious charity accounts.
They led to a European holding company.
Vesper Clearing AG.
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And one name appeared repeatedly as an authorized trustee.
Sabine Keller.
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