"The fall from grace is steep and swift, and when you land, it does not make a sound because you are alone." – Cari Williams
Handcuffed and escorted into the visitors room, Conrad Grayson started ahead at the dull, cement wall. "Mrs. Grayson is here to see you." The prison warden on duty answered his unspoken question, as to who could have possibly warranted a lone visitation right.
A small smirk settled firmly on his thinning lips. As suspected, his letters had provoked suspicion within the Grayson children and dear Amanda Clarke must have decided to finally confront him for the act. He prevented himself from chuckling, starved in anticipation of her inevitable wrath, since her world must have been shattered the way his had years beforehand. The humorous slant Conrad concocted on the whole scenario shattered into a million shards, when his presumed-to-be-deceased-ex-wife appeared in the doorway. "Hello, Conrad."
His stomach tightened into a knot, sickened by the realisation that she had escaped punishment, while he rotted in jail. "Victoria..."
The huskiness of his voice curled around her name and Victoria tilted her head, satisfied to an incredulous level. She couldn't deny the passage of time had taken its ruthless toll on her; her once raven-black hair had faded to a salt-and-pepper shade, and the abrasive blue hue underneath her eyes had started to feel more and more permanent. Yet, Conrad had suffered a much harsher fate, at the hands of time. His hair completely absent of colour and his body frail... Victoria proudly accepted the seat opposite of him, a firm eye on the warden nearby. "Don't you look... well."
His fists squeezed into a ball, infuriated by her pretensive nature. "I should have known better than to believe the rumour." Conrad rarely felt the fool, but it wasn't the first time Victoria had manipulated him into being one. "I should have rooted for your remains in the ashes of that plane."
"I came because I wanted to personally inform you, before the press received word of my return," Victoria studied the dethroned Grayson king, her expression blissful. Her contempt for Emily was one thing, but there was definite admiration, too, for her disposal of Conrad. "...and I wanted to update you on Sophia's condition."
"Condition?"
Since the accident," her sincere tone false, like her love for him in the later years of their marriage. "Of course, you didn't know. Nobody bothered to inform you," she dreamily exhaled, "Because you cease to exist in Daniel's mind, even Emily's." Her nails tapped on the metal surface between them. "After Sophia's hit-and-run last month, she's almost able to walk without the support of her crutches, and there's no permanent effect." Victoria smiled, "Soon, she'll be able to move forward... we all will." The sentence insinuated Victoria had been welcomed back into the family fold, arms wide open.
"You don't really believe our son could ever forgive all the lies you've construed, do you?" Conrad scoffed, in pity.
"He already has," her wicked smile taunted him, in return. "I'm where I always should have been, with my son and his family." Victoria revelled in Conrad's envy. "Soon, word will spread of my return and I'll look forward to another summer in the Hampton's. Before you know it, the holiday season will arrive and another year will have passed. It'll be as if I never left, meanwhile, you'll be stuck here..." she pouted, unsympathetic to his plight, "...and Conrad Grayson will be void."
Conrad remained unsurprised. "It's no surprise you crossed me, the first chance you got. Loyalty never was a concept you understood well, was it, Victoria?" His lips curled into a malicious snarl, "If by some Grayson-funded miracle, you do escape conviction for your involvement in David Clarke's imprisonment, you surely can't be naive enough to trust our son's wife." As devious as she could be, experience endowed Conrad with the aptitude to read Victoria like an open book, whenever it concerned their child. "Did you and Amanda have a heart-to-heart? When you looked in her eyes, did you see her or him? Maybe," he paused, "You were even able to detect pieces of Charlotte." Victoria's eyes flickered with emotion, "She's reeled you in, Victoria, and she'll only spit you out when she's done with you. Amanda Clarke won't be satisfied unless everyone responsible for her father's fate has paid... and you are the last pillar to fall."
Her ex-husband's words stirred her sense of distrust for the earthly Emily Thorne that had first arrived in the Hampton's. Without any suitable bite-back, Victoria simply returned his sickly smile and rose from her seat, pride in every movement, "Goodbye, Conrad."
Conrad playfully smirked back, "Goodbye, Victoria."
Her departure from the prison was swift, and Victoria climbed into the backseat of the black Porsche that Daniel had provided her to run the 'errand' in question. "Grayson Manor, please." She instructed the driver and spent the entire journey home in deep contemplation; had Emily really let go of her quest for vengeance? She pondered the possibilities, even as she stepped across the threshold, where she was welcomed by the murmurs of her family and the aroma of a home-cooked meal.
"Welcome home, mom." Daniel called from the kitchen, "How did your errand go?"
She could sense Daniel's intrigue. "It went... as expected," his mother kissed his cheek.
"Dinner's almost ready," he informed her. "Sophia's upstairs in her room, Jacob and Hannah are too, but Charlie's in the den." It was an obvious hint.
Victoria followed through, entering the den and discovered Charlotte curled on the sofa with a book balanced on her knee. "Did your father ever tell you how much your aunt Charlotte loved to read?" Victoria dreamily recalled, so easily reminded of her deceased child merely by the appearance of Charlotte. "Especially when she started to learn, she always had her head stuck in a book." The vision of Charlotte perched on the bottom of the stairway with her favourite book entered her mind. "What are you reading?"
"Catcher in the Rye," Charlotte replied.
"I remember how much your father loved to read that," she cheerfully pried the novel from Charlotte's hands and shook her head, "I could never understand it." Victoria exhaled, heavily. "Not a surprise though, teen angst has never been my forte." Charlotte rolled her tongue along her top teeth, silently. "I realise my being here must be hard for you to absorb. Sophia pursued me to stay, your brother and sister aren't at the age to understand, but you've been called home... and here I am." Since Charlotte's return home, Victoria experienced a disconnect between them - or, rather, no connection at all - and she prayed she could settle any uneasiness between them. "I'm sure you're confused, but I wondered how you feel about... me."
"In the words of Holden Caulfield," Charlotte reached for the book and patted its hard-cover, "You give me a royal pain in the ass, if you want to know the truth." Her words sparked a flare into Victoria's eyes and shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know you, Victoria, and, after all I've heard, I'm not sure I want to. My sister seems to have some deep, misguided fascination with you because you're so similar in appearance but I pray that's as far as the resembles goes."
Daniel unintentionally interrupted, "Charlie, would you mind setting up the table for dinner?" Charlotte nodded her head, set the book aside and brushed past Victoria, whose face had sadly fallen at Charlotte's response. He frowned, "Mom, everything okay?"
Brave-faced, Victoria smiled, "I'm worried that my return has been too unsettling for you and your children."
His initial reaction was offence at the suggestion that returning wasn't in their best interest, as if it proved his mother didn't care. "Mom, I know I didn't react in the best possible way when I learn the truth but... after a period of adjustment, it will be okay. You're back where you always should have been, that's all that matters." His hand supportively squeezed hers, "Believe me, when I say, things have changed; I have changed, too. I'm not so easily triggered, mom, and Emily's made the difference in my life. I can run Grayson Global and not care about mistakes, I can drink wine with dinner and not pass out at the end of a meal. I'm a different man because of her. She came into our lives with the worst of intention but she's been the best influence on me."
"I'm happy for you, Daniel."
Yet, despite Daniel's insistence, Conrad's voice returned as an echo in her head; "... she's reeled you in, and she'll only spit you out when she's done with you. Amanda Clarke won't be satisfied unless everyone responsible for her father's fate has paid... and you are the last pillar to fall."