Chapter 3 - Vanessa Cole)
Claire did not board the plane immediately.
She sat near the gate with her suitcase beside her, watching aircraft lights move across the dark runway.
Daniel called nineteen times.
She declined every call.
At 12:18 a.m., Maya sent a message.
Do not answer him until we understand the diary.
Claire agreed.
The diary mattered.
Not only because of the photographs.
Because Vanessa Cole was connected to Aster.
Claire searched the name.
The results surprised her.
Vanessa Cole had once been chief financial officer of a healthcare investment company called Northstar BioVentures.
Three years earlier, Northstar had nearly acquired Aster Biotechnologies.
The transaction collapsed suddenly.
Vanessa resigned six weeks later.
After that, she largely disappeared from financial news.
Claire searched further.
There were old photographs.
Blonde hair.
Blue eyes.
The same woman.
One article described Vanessa as “one of the most promising dealmakers of her generation.”
Another mentioned that she had previously worked with Daniel.
Claire opened it.
Daniel Mercer and Vanessa Cole, then both junior partners at Beaumont Strategic, had led a restructuring deal together nine years earlier.
Nine years.
Claire’s throat tightened.
Daniel had known Vanessa long before meeting Claire.
The photographs could have belonged to another time.
Except the dates did not.
Claire returned to the diary photographs stored on her phone.
One handwritten page read:
D says Aster closes in September.
Hawthorne signature still missing.
He thinks he can solve that.
Another:
If Claire learns what guarantees were moved, everything collapses.
Claire stared at her own name.
Her boarding group was called.
She remained seated.
Another page.
D promised no harm would come to C or the baby.
Baby.
Claire instinctively covered her stomach.
A cold sensation moved through her.
Who had written the diary?
Vanessa?
Daniel?
Someone else?
She called Maya.
Her attorney answered immediately.
“I found something.”
“What?”
“The diary mentions me.”
“I know. I saw the page.”
“It mentions the baby.”
Maya paused.
“I saw that too.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because you were getting out of the apartment, and I wanted you moving before we started discussing possibilities.”
Claire stood as the final boarding announcement sounded.
“Possibilities like what?”
“Claire, board the plane.”
“Maya.”
“Board first.”
Claire hated being ordered around.
Tonight, she obeyed.
She walked through the gate.
Once seated in first class, she called Maya again before the doors closed.
“I’m on.”
“Good.”
“Now talk.”
Maya exhaled.
“I ran the company names from the diary.”
“And?”
“Two are shell companies.”
“Connected to Daniel?”
“Not directly.”
“To Vanessa?”
“One appears connected to her former business manager.”
Claire looked out the window.
“And the third?”
“Grayhaven Holdings.”
“What is it?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“What does it own?”
“That’s the problem. According to the public filing, almost nothing.”
“Then why is it in the diary?”
“Because last month Grayhaven received ninety-eight million dollars.”
Claire sat straighter.
“From where?”
“A subsidiary of Mercer Meridian.”
Her heart accelerated.
“Ninety-eight million?”
“Yes.”
“Did Daniel authorize it?”
“We don’t know.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“What else?”
Maya hesitated.
“There’s a payment schedule.”
“For what?”
“That’s what I’m trying to determine.”
The flight attendant asked Claire to place her phone in airplane mode.
Claire nodded but did not move.
“Maya, where did the money go?”
“Claire.”
“Where?”
“Most of it disappeared through three additional entities within forty-eight hours.”
Claire felt suddenly nauseated.
“And the Hawthorne trust?”
“It appears Daniel used Hawthorne-backed assets to secure bridge financing for the transaction.”
Without her permission.
Exactly what her father had warned her about.
Exactly what the emergency provisions were designed to stop.
Claire looked down at her stomach.
For months Daniel had kissed her goodnight, touched their unborn daughter and told her not to worry about business.
Meanwhile he had been using her family assets without telling her.
“Claire,” Maya said softly, “the affair may be the smallest part of what you found.”
Claire opened her eyes.
“That doesn’t make it hurt less.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
Maya did not answer.
Claire immediately regretted the question.
“I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to apologize.”
The flight attendant approached again.
Claire lowered her voice.
“I’m turning the phone off.”
“I’ll meet you when you land.”
“Maya?”
“Yes?”
“Find Vanessa.”
“I already started.”
Claire looked at the photograph on her screen one final time.
Daniel’s hand around Vanessa’s waist.
Her face against his.
Both smiling.
“Find out whether she knows I exist.”
The plane door closed.
Claire activated airplane mode.
For the first time in five years, Daniel had no way to reach her.
It should have felt frightening.
May you like
Instead, beneath the heartbreak, Claire felt something else.
Relief.
