Author's note: This is my first fanfiction for Revenge and English is not my first language, so I apologize for all kinds of mistakes. I hope you'll enjoy it anyway. Reviews would be very helpful to improve my writing! :)

Careful not to make any noise Victoria Grayson set down her huge bag on the front porch. She took a look at her Armani watch and checked the time. 22:59. That would give her about one hour if everything went according to her plan.

Quietly she entered the beach house through the door at its side. It was the door he always left open for her to sneak in at night, so they could enjoy a late night dinner together, watch some TV and afterwards end up as two passionate lovers under the comforting sheets of his bed upstairs.

Those nights provided Victoria not only the love and appreciation she clearly missed getting from her husband, but they also made her feel normal and took the pressure of being a perfect wife away from her. At least they did so for a few hours before she had to go back to her castle next door, where she had a kingdom to rule and pretend to be the happiest woman on earth. In fact, however, Victoria Grayson felt like the saddest woman living in the Hamptons with her son being at that boarding school and her husband trying to distract from his various affairs by buying expensive gifts for her.

Suddenly pulled out of her thoughts, she remembered for what reason she was here tonight. She wanted to leave all that behind and start anew.

So when Victoria finally reached the living room where she saw David sleeping peacefully on his couch with the TV still on, she knew that tonight was her last chance to fix her own life and at the same time keep David and his daughter Amanda from being destroyed by people whom he knew as friends and colleagues.

That was why she did not hesitate to grab the black laptop from the kitchen counter and leave the house again.

As she made her way through the sand towards the sea, it seemed that the world around her became darker and darker until the lights of the beach house were only a slight shimmer somewhere in the night.

Victoria shivered in her black cardigan and linen slacks and listened to the sound of the waves. The wind was pretty rough and constantly blew her long dark curls in her face, so that it was difficult for her to see where she was going. Eventually, she reached the shore and almost stepped into the water, but could pull away quickly enough to not to get her feet wet.

Sighing, she closed her eyes. Drowning that laptop was an essential part of her plan, because it meant destroying evidence. An evidence, which Conrad desperately needed to build a case against an innocent man in order to save his own company. However, Victoria had secretly decided that she could not let that happen.

It all came down to her standing on the beach in the middle of the night praying that the Atlantic Ocean would swallow up the crucial electrical device for ever.

At some point she found that the waves were trying to tell her they would take care of her problem, so she gathered all of her strength and threw the laptop out into the sea. She almost let out a furious scream, but remembered that she could not afford to be seen by anyone.

When the black piece of plastic had fully disappeared in the depths of the ocean, Victoria turned around and walked back towards the beach house, towards the light and towards the man she was sure she loved with all of her heart.

At first, she had thought getting rid of that laptop would be hard, but now she realized that the hardest part was yet to come.

About ten minutes later she found herself in David's kitchen again. Only this time she was trembling. Not only because of her little adventure at the beach, but also because she was afraid of David's reaction.

"Victoria? Is that you?", came a low voice from the living room. The problem was that Victoria could not answer, she could not utter a single word. Her lips were tightly pressed together and her arms wrapped around her chest as if she was freezing.

"Vic?", the voice asked again. All of a sudden a man's figure appeared in front of her and although it was dark, the worried expression on David's face was obvious. "I thought I had heard someone coming in earlier, I'm glad it was you." He started smiling and leant forward to give her a kiss, but immediately she turned her head away. "Is everything okay, Vic? You look like you've seen a ghost." David was irritated. Normally Victoria would lose herself once he started kissing her and it was even weirder when the brunette only stood there without saying a word.

"Victoria? Please talk to me. Something is clearly wrong. Is it Conrad? Did he…"

Victoria interrupted him by suddenly digging her fingernails into his arms. "David…", she whispered and looked deep into his blue eyes. He wrapped his arms around her waist and encouraged her to go on.

"David… I…" She simply couldn't say the words. She was so afraid.

"Tell me, you know you can." The blonde man smiled at her and the second Victoria felt the warmth of his gesture running through her body she managed to open her mouth properly.

"David, I… I want to run away with you." She let out a relieved sigh and began to relax her shoulders.

David most definitely wasn't expecting this. Of course, they had talked about getting away and had speculated about their life as a family, he had never – not even in his wildest dreams – imagined that Victoria, the woman he had fallen in love with head over heels, would come to him and tell him she wanted to run away with him.

As a result from that surprise, he did not know how to react in the first place, but as he saw the disappointed expression on her face, he did the only thing that felt right to him.

"That is… I don't even know… perfect." David took Victoria into his arms. "You are perfect." He gave her a kiss, but again she pulled away.

"You have to know that it won't be easy, David." The brunette spoke in a serious tone. "You'll have to leave everything behind if you really want to be with me. Are you willing to do this?"

"Sure, sure I am! I love you Victoria. There's nothing I wouldn't do for you!" He caressed her cheek, still wondering why she didn't seem as happy as he was. "Can't we talk about the details tomorrow? Since you obviously don't plan to go back to the Manor, I would very much like to carry you up to the bedroom now, so that I can wake up next to your beautiful face tomorrow." He was just about to lift her up when Victoria stopped him.

"No, no we cannot do that!", she stated harshly. "I have a plan, which we need to follow. We have to leave tonight or Conrad will get in our way."

"I sort of assumed you had already told him?! Why can't you just get a divorce?" David was more than irritated now.

"Because it is not that simple! Conrad would never let me go, you know that!", Victoria explained angrily and stepped away from her lover.

"It's okay, I get that. Don't be mad." David tried to calm her, because he realized she was pretty unnerved already. "So, what does your plan suggest we do first? And what do we do about Daniel?"

"Well," Victoria swallowed her tension trying to keep a clear head. "You need to pack a bag for you and one for Amanda with only your most important belongings. You can't take your cell or anything Grayson Global related. I hope you have some cash here, because we can't use our credit cards, they'd be too easy to track down. And about Daniel: I paid someone off, so we can pick him up at his school as soon as we're done here."

"Wow, you really thought that through.", David acknowledged. "And you are absolutely sure you want to turn your back on your privileged life as Mrs Grayson?"

"There's nothing that I want more.", assured Victoria, determined.

"Okay, I'll pack everything upstairs. Just wait here." He pressed a kiss to her forehead before he disappeared upstairs.

Not even 20 minutes later, David came back with two bags and a sleepy looking Amanda by his side.

Victoria shot up from the chair she had been sitting on and tried to smile at the little girl. "Hey, Amanda."

Nevertheless, Amanda did not smile back at the brunette. Quite the opposite, the blonde girl turned to her father with a confused expression on her face. "Daddy, what's going on? Why can't you just tell me?" She made no effort in acknowledging Victoria's presence in any way.

"Amanda, I understand that you're confused, but please, you have to trust me and Victoria. Everything will be fine.", said David as he pushed his daughter further into the kitchen.

"I trust you. But I don't trust her." The little girl angrily glared at Victoria over her shoulder.

"Amanda!" David was shocked by the defiant attitude of his daughter. "You will not speak to Victoria like that ever again!" I thought you knew how to behave!"

"But I don't want to leave! It's the first day of summer holidays and I promised Jack I'd visit him!" Amanda screamed trying to hold back the tears. She did not understand why her father was suddenly being so mean to her. And she certainly did not have a clue what that woman from next door was doing here in their beach house in the middle of the night and why she was supposed to spend time with her.

"I'm sure Jack will forgive you. And now get in the car." David picked up their bags and led his daughter to her seat in the back of his Ford.

"No! I want to sit next to you Daddy!" Amanda refused to get into the car and stared at her father. By no means would she let that woman sit next to her Daddy.

"Don't be ridiculous Amanda. You always sit here!" David was annoyed since he didn't expect his daughter to be that reluctant.

"But now I want to be by your side and not in the back!" The girl insisted on her claim.

Just as David was about to tell his daughter off, Victoria, who carried her bag from the porch to the car, interfered with the situation. "It's okay, David. Let her sit in the front." She shot him a look saying that he shouldn't confuse his daughter more than they both already did.

David let out a sigh, grabbed Amanda's seat and placed it on the passenger's seat.

"Just to be clear, young lady, I will not tolerate your behavior any longer. Now get in."

Tears were running down her cheeks when Amanda seated herself and waiter for her father to start the engine. He usually didn't talk to her like that and it hurt her all the more when she saw how lovingly he touched the woman from next door.

Even if she was not sure what exactly was going on, she was determined to drive that lady away from her Dad. He was the only family she had left and she didn't like to share that with anyone.

As the three of them left the driveway, Amanda turned around and met the dark brown eyes of Victoria Grayson. Fear struck her body and she instinctively turned her head away to focus on the dim street lights again.

That woman was giving her the creeps and she could feel it in her bones: She was dangerous.

And sooner or later, Amanda would find a way to protect herself and more importantly her Dad, who was clearly blinded by the Queen's ravishing beauty, from that danger.