Chapter 3 - VANESSA’S REAL FACE
Adrian stepped between Vanessa and the door.
“Start talking.”
Vanessa laughed once.
It was a small, bitter sound.
“You always were dramatic.”
“My daughter could have died.”
“She wasn’t going to die.”
“How could you possibly know that?”
“I knew Clara would catch her.”
Adrian stared at her.
“You planned it.”
Vanessa folded her arms.
“I needed you to fire her.”
“Why?”
“Because she watches everything.”
Olivia moved closer to Emma.
Adrian noticed and immediately became protective.
“Olivia, take Emma upstairs.”
“No.”
“Please.”
Olivia shook her head.
“I want to hear this.”
Vanessa looked at Olivia with irritation.
“You see? This is what Clara has done. She turned your own kids against me.”
Adrian clenched his jaw.
“Leave Clara out of your excuses.”
“She hates me.”
“She saved Emma.”
“She wanted me gone!”
Adrian took one step closer.
“Why would she want you gone?”
Vanessa hesitated.
That hesitation told him more than any answer.
“What did she find out?”
“Nothing.”
“What did Clara find out?”
“Nothing!”
Olivia suddenly spoke.
“The red folder.”
Vanessa snapped her head toward her.
“What did you say?”
Olivia looked at Adrian.
“I saw Vanessa take papers from your office last week.”
Adrian’s stomach tightened.
“What papers?”
“I don’t know. They were in the red folder you keep in your desk.”
Vanessa’s face went pale.
Adrian rushed to his home office.
The others followed.
He pulled open the bottom drawer.
Empty.
He checked another.
Nothing.
“My investment documents,” he whispered.
Vanessa laughed nervously.
“You’re paranoid.”
Adrian opened his laptop.
His fingers moved quickly across the keyboard.
He logged into an account he had barely checked in weeks.
Then he stopped breathing.
Three transfers.
$48,000.
$52,000.
$75,000.
Total: $175,000.
Transferred over eighteen days.
Adrian turned.
“What did you do?”
Vanessa ran.
She pushed Olivia aside and sprinted toward the back door.
“Dad!”
Adrian chased her through the kitchen.
Vanessa grabbed the handle.
Locked.
She cursed and turned.
Adrian blocked her path.
“Move!”
“No.”
“Adrian, you don’t understand!”
“Then make me understand.”
Her eyes flicked toward the counter.
A set of car keys.
She grabbed them.
Adrian caught her wrist.
The keys fell.
“Let go of me!”
“Where is my money?”
Vanessa struggled.
“LET GO!”
Emma began crying upstairs.
Olivia screamed, “Stop!”
Vanessa went still.
Then she looked at Adrian and smiled.
“You think this is about your money?”
His grip loosened.
“What does that mean?”
Vanessa leaned closer.
“This is about your dead wife.”
Adrian’s face changed.
“Don’t.”
“Oh, now you care?”
“Don’t say Rachel’s name.”
Vanessa smiled wider.
“You should.”
She pointed toward his office.
“Because Rachel left you something before she died.”
Adrian’s pulse thundered.
“What?”
“A letter.”
He stared at her.
Vanessa whispered the words that shattered the room.
May you like
“And Clara knows where it is.”
---
