Poison and Pearls

"Mrs Grayson?"

Victoria stared out towards the ocean, watching a little fishing boat battle against strong winds. Outside, a storm was beginning to rise; inside, however, she felt numb.

"What is it, Marguerite?"

"Mr Grayson is here to see you - can I show him in?"

Conrad walked into the bedroom without waiting for a reply. Marguerite, their maid, took this as her cue to leave - and quickly. Having spent the last 12 years working for the Graysons, she knew when to leave a room and make herself scarce. The bitter exchanges between these two 'unhappily ever afters' was often uncomfortable viewing.

"Mrs Grayson, eh?" Conrad raised his eyes. "I expected you to get rid of my name when our divorce came through. Or perhaps you couldn't bear to part with it?"

Victoria didn't turn to face him. Instead she gripped the side of the balcony to steady herself.

"Get out." she said, through gritted teeth.

Conrad closed the bedroom door, shutting them both in together. He walked towards her.

"What the hell happened to your car? It's a wreck."

The screech of tyres on wet tarmac. A pair of shining eyes in the headlights...

"Victoria?"

"I had an accident," she said. "Not that it's any of your concern."

Victoria felt the floor underneath her feet shift slightly. Her legs felt weak; she wanted to sit down, but she wouldn't show any signs of physical weakness. He would use it to manipulate her, of this she was sure.

"Are you alright?" The concern in his voice irritated her. The last thing she wanted was his sympathy.

"I was fine before you showed up."

"Then why won't you look at me?"

Victoria had kept her back to him from the moment he arrived, staring intently out to the ocean. It seemed unnatural, Conrad thought. He stepped towards her and put his hand on her arm, pulling her around so that he could see her face. The right side of her head was cut, and a dark purple bruise was beginning to form under the porcelain skin of her cheekbone.

"My God, Victoria... how the hell...?"

Victoria shook herself from his grip.

"Why will you never leave me alone? If I ran to the ends of the earth you'd pursue me there, wouldn't you? This is my house now and you are not welcome here!"

Her head pounded and raising her voice only made it worse. If only he would leave, she could lie down for a bit...

"Look, just calm down - I came looking for Charlotte, not to torment you. She's not at the Stowaway and her phone's switched off."

"She'll be keeping out of your way, if she has any sense."

Victoria closed her eyes and grimaced as a sharp pain shot through her side.

A dark highway lined with fir trees, a misshapen figure appearing in the road...

"Have you seen a doctor?" Conrad reached out his hand to steady her but then hesitated, remembering her reaction the last time he touched her.

"Sit down," he said. "I'll call your doctor. You need to get checked over."

"It's nothing, Conrad. I'm fine."

The colour had faded from her skin and she looked pale against the darkening sky. Although Victoria was no longer his wife, Conrad felt the inexplicable urge to take care of her when ever she showed any rare signs of vulnerability.

"What happened with the car? Was it another vehicle?"

"The road was icy and I lost control for a few seconds. It..."

The squeal of rubber on tarmac as she slammed on the breaks, the sickening crack of bone and flesh as a figure rolled over her bonnet and hit the windscreen...

"Sit down."

She hesitated.

"For christ's sake, Victoria - sit down before you fall down. Why do you insist upon building a wall around you so that you can suffer alone? You crashed the car and you're shaken up. There's no shame in that."

Victoria reluctantly sat down whilst Conrad fetched them both a drink. She downed the glass of dark golden liquid, immediately feeling better. Conrad watched her in silence.

"What do you want with Charlotte?" she asked.

"Well..."

He pause and then sat by her.

"Daniel came to see me today. He's discovered some particularly venomous articles about our family written by an anonymous cyber journalist named 'Poltergeist'. Normally I would disregard this sort of thing as petty gossip and speculation, however..."

He looked out towards the horizon for a moment, choosing his words carefully.

"After taking a closer look at the content of these articles it seems like he, or she perhaps, seems to know one or two Greyson family secrets that I had believed to be extremely well-guarded."

"Like what?" she asked.

Conrad pulled several folded sheets of paper out of his inside pocket of. He spread them open on the table in front of her.

"Take a look for yourself."

POISON AND PEARLS: A SECRET HISTORY OF THE GRAYSONS

This blog is dedicated to uncovering the secrets and lies of the Hamptons' most notorious family.

There's only so many skeletons that you can keep in one closet.

Truth makes its way through the shadows.

And They. Shall. Suffer.

- P0ltergi5t.

Victoria felt a cold chill surge through her body. This was more than idle gossip.

This was personal.

This was deadly.

She scanned some of the titles. There was at least one article written on every member of her immediate family...

Conrad Grayson's Global Cover-Up: Part One

'Daniel Grayson: How a Frat Brat became a Groom Gunman.'

'The Paternity Mystery of Patrick Harper - His Real Father Uncovered.'

'Victoria's Secret - How the Hamptons Housewife Built Her Empire.'

'Who Framed David Clarke?'

'Missing in Action: The Grayson Body Count.'

'Charlotte Grayson's Tragic Secret Pregnancy.'

'Emily Thorne-Grayson: The Goldigger In Disguise.'

Victoria hesitated when she read this last entry. Emily...

Could her suspicion about Emily be true? Was this just another attempt to sabotage their family? Was she desperate enough to implicate herself in their crimes just for payback...?

"These are..." Victoria's chest felt tight, like something heavy was pressing down upon her.

"They are extremely uncomfortable reading and, might I add, a small selection of many. This guy has certainly done his homework on our grizzly family history."

Victoria stood up and looked out at the ocean once more. The waves were still crashing turbulently against the shore and the sky was heavy with dark clouds which seemed to herald the onset of thunder. The little boat had disappeared into the horizon to search for calmer waters.

"What do we do about it?" she asked Conrad.

"We do what we always do, my dear. We destroy them..."

"... before they destroy us."

"Exactly," he said. "Now. I believe you are acquainted with the services of Mr Nolan Ross?"

"He's helped me out once before."

A dull pain was growing in Victoria's side and her breath seemed short and shallow. Everything that was safe and sacred in her world was unravelling and she was slowly falling apart...

"We might need to call upon his services to identify the true identity of this 'Poltergeist'."

"How do we know it's not him?" she asked.

"I know we have never been on the best of terms with Nolan Ross, but do you really think he despises us enough to pull a dangerous stunt like this?"

"He'd do it for Emily."

"What - even at the expense of Charlotte and Patrick? I thought Ross and Patrick had a history?"

"Perhaps you're right," she said. "I don't know who to trust anymore."

There was a short silence. They stood, side by side, listening to the rainfall and the distant rumble of thunder. Eventually Conrad spoke.

"Don't worry. I'll fix this."

"Conrad -"

Without warning, Victoria felt herself falling. She clutched at Conrad's arm and he steadied her.

"Victoria?"

"I can't -"

Her mind suddenly flashed back to a moment in time, years earlier, when she'd been in a similar position: Conrad holding her up; she holding on to him - paralysed with fear.

"Victoria? What's wrong with you?"

Eighteen years earlier, her response had been the same... "I can't do it, I can't do it anymore."

"You've got to," he had told her then. "For Daniel, for our future."

"Conrad, please - he's an innocent man!"

"If you don't testify against him, Victoria, then they're going to start asking questions - and do you know where those questions are going to lead them? They're going to lead them straight to our front door, my darling wife. So unless you want our unborn child to take its first breath in a prison hospital wing, then I suggest that you pull yourself together and get in the damn car."

She had of course. But that was by no means the end of it.

"Victoria? Can you hear me?"

Back in the present, Victoria opened her eyes to find herself lying on her bed, Conrad leaning over her. He had carried her in from the balcony and was now holding out a glass of water.

"You passed out," he said. "I'm going to call the doctor whether you like it or not. You might have concussion."

She took the water, too tired to argue. He gently brushed her hair away her from face.

"Everything will be alright. Trust me."

"I don't trust you, Conrad. Nor do I need your help."

"Well, that might be true," he said. "But I need yours. We have a battle to fight against invisible enemies, and you can't deny that we're stronger together. Like it or not, Victoria, this war is only just beginning..."

[To be continued...]