Chapter 3 - JULIAN’S SISTER
“Say that again.”
Julian’s voice was barely louder than a whisper.
Naomi looked at Marcus.
Marcus looked back.
Neither spoke.
Julian stepped closer.
“My sister. What did Vanessa say about my sister?”
Naomi didn’t like giving people devastating information in hallways.
She especially didn’t like giving it to a man whose fiancée was twenty yards away celebrating their engagement.
But there was no clean version of this.
“Rachel’s accident may not have been an accident.”
Julian stared at her.
“No.”
“Julian—”
“No.”
His jaw tightened.
“Rachel lost control of her car.”
“That’s what the report said.”
“The road was wet.”
“Yes.”
“She was speeding.”
“That was also in the report.”
Julian laughed once.
It wasn’t humor.
It was disbelief trying to survive.
“You’ve been in my house pretending to clean bathrooms while investigating my fiancée?”
“Yes.”
“Did you know who I was?”
“Of course.”
“Did Marcus send you?”
“Yes.”
Julian looked at Marcus.
“You investigated Vanessa without telling me?”
Marcus didn’t flinch.
“You hired my firm after the foundation audit found irregular transfers.”
“I told you to investigate the accounts.”
“And the accounts pointed toward someone close to you.”
“You should have told me.”
“If we had been wrong, we would have destroyed your relationship based on suspicion.”
Julian looked toward the ballroom.
“And if you’re right?”
Nobody answered.
That silence was worse.
Julian paced once, rubbing his hand across his mouth.
“My sister hates Vanessa.”
Naomi raised an eyebrow.
“Hates?”
“She never trusted her.”
“Did Rachel ever say why?”
“She said Vanessa was fake. Manipulative. Controlling.” Julian shook his head. “I thought she was being protective.”
Naomi asked, “Did they argue before the crash?”
Julian stopped walking.
He looked at her.
“When?”
“The days before it happened.”
Julian’s eyes narrowed.
“There was dinner.”
“What dinner?”
“At my house. Rachel and Vanessa started fighting.”
“About?”
“I don’t know.”
“You were there.”
“I walked in late. They stopped when I entered.”
Naomi’s stomach tightened.
“What happened afterward?”
“Rachel left angry.”
“And then?”
“She called me two nights later.”
“What did she say?”
Julian looked disturbed now, as though he were dragging up a memory he had spent years burying.
“She told me I was making a mistake.”
“With Vanessa?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“She said she had proof.”
Naomi and Marcus exchanged a look.
Julian saw it.
“What?”
“What proof?” Naomi asked.
“I never found out.”
“Why?”
Julian swallowed.
“Because the next morning she went off the road.”
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
From the ballroom came muffled applause.
Vanessa was probably smiling again.
Probably apologizing publicly for the “misunderstanding.”
Probably turning herself into the victim.
Naomi had watched her do it dozens of times.
Marcus pulled out his phone.
“I’m calling the county investigator.”
Julian grabbed his wrist.
“No.”
Marcus frowned.
“No?”
“If Vanessa had anything to do with Rachel’s crash, I want proof before she knows we suspect her.”
Naomi studied him.
He was angry.
But he wasn’t reckless.
Good.
Julian looked at Naomi.
“What do you need?”
“Access.”
“To what?”
“Rachel’s old phone records. Her apartment storage. Anything she left behind.”
Julian nodded quickly.
“Done.”
“And I need you to walk back into that ballroom.”
His expression hardened.
“You expect me to pretend everything is fine?”
“Yes.”
“You want me to stand beside her?”
“Yes.”
“You want me to smile for cameras?”
“Yes.”
Julian stared at Naomi.
“I don’t know if I can do that.”
Naomi’s voice softened slightly.
“If Vanessa thinks the investigation is closing in, she’ll destroy whatever is left.”
Julian looked down.
His hands were trembling.
Then he slowly removed his engagement ring from his pocket.
He turned it over once.
And put it back.
“Fine.”
Naomi nodded.
“Good.”
He headed for the ballroom.
Then stopped.
“There’s something else.”
Naomi waited.
“After Rachel’s accident, Vanessa was the first person at the hospital.”
Marcus frowned.
“How?”
“I never thought about it before.”
Julian turned back toward them.
“The police hadn’t even called me yet.”
A cold silence settled over the corridor.
Naomi asked the obvious question.
“How did Vanessa know Rachel had crashed?”
Julian’s face changed.
Because he had no answer.
May you like
And suddenly, the missing money no longer felt like the most dangerous secret in Vanessa Sterling’s life.
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