I Found My Eight-Year-Old Daughter Being Forced to Eat Beside the Dog Kennel—Then One Threat About Her Birth Records Changed Everything.

Victor didn't react to her threat. He simply stood over her, his expression unreadable, his eyes terrifyingly calm.

"You made a mistake, Celeste," Victor said softly.

Celeste chuckled, swirling the amber liquid in her crystal glass. "What mistake? I've won, Victor. Sal has the legal bloodline claim. You've been raising his daughter for eight years while your real child lived in a servant's shack."

Victor reached into his inner pocket and pulled out a small black velvet folder recovered from Marcus’s safe earlier that evening. He tossed it onto the glass table between them.

"Open it," Victor ordered.

Celeste’s smirk faded slightly. She set her glass down and opened the folder. Inside was a certified marriage certificate from Las Vegas, dated nine years ago—one year before Victor married her.

The groom’s name on the document was Sal Moretti. The bride’s name was Celeste Vance—Dr. Robert Vance’s daughter.

Celeste’s face drained of all color. Her hand began to tremble as she stared at her own signature.

"You were never legally my wife," Victor said, his voice dropping to an icy whisper. "Your marriage to me was bigamous and fraudulent. You were sent into this house by Sal and your father to locate Clara's real child and eliminate her."

"Victor... wait..." Celeste stammered, pushing herself back against the cushions as her confident facade shattered into pieces.

"You forced Ellie to sit by the dog kennel today because you knew I'd react," Victor said, stepping closer until his shadow completely covered her. "You wanted me to start digging into her birth records so the secret would blow up in public!"

"Sal forced me to do it!" Celeste shrieked, dropping the folder to the floor. "He told me he'd kill my father if I didn't help him get Sal's daughter back!"

"Your father is already dead, Celeste," Victor said coldly. "Sal shot him in Long Island two hours ago."

Celeste froze, her eyes widening in absolute horror. "No... no, you're lying!"

"Sal cleans up loose ends," Victor said. "And now, you are a loose end."