Chapter 4 - Vanessa’s Second Lie
David was still at the hotel when police arrived.
By then Vanessa had stopped crying.
She sat on the edge of the bed in silence while David paced.
He had tried calling his mother eighteen times.
Teresa answered only once.
She told him the basement room had been opened.
Then she hung up.
David had thrown his phone against the wall.
Vanessa watched the cracked screen lying on the carpet.
“Was Eleanor telling the truth?”
David stopped pacing.
“About what?”
“The house.”
He said nothing.
“The company card?”
Still nothing.
Vanessa stood.
“David.”
“Not now.”
“You told me you owned the house.”
“I basically did.”
“Basically?”
“My wife owned it on paper.”
Vanessa stared at him.
“You told me Eleanor hadn’t worked in years.”
“She hasn’t.”
“But she has money.”
He laughed bitterly.
“Money her father left her.”
“You said her father died bankrupt.”
David looked at her.
“Why are you interrogating me?”
“Because your lawyer just served you divorce papers, your parents got thrown out of a house you apparently don’t own, and a man in the hallway said something about a dead person in Tokyo.”
David walked toward her.
“You should go.”
“Go where?”
“Home.”
“You told me we were leaving together.”
“Plans changed.”
Vanessa’s face hardened.
“For four years you told me everything was about to change.”
“I said not now.”
She stepped closer.
“You told me Eleanor was unstable.”
“She is.”
“You told me she refused to divorce you.”
“She did.”
Vanessa laughed in disbelief.
“She just threw her wedding ring at your feet.”
David grabbed his jacket.
“I don’t owe you an explanation.”
Her voice became quiet.
“You promised me a house.”
He froze.
Vanessa saw it.
The reaction was tiny.
But she saw it.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You promised me the lake house.”
David turned.
“I said we might live there.”
“No. You said after the Tokyo account closed, the property would be transferred.”
David’s eyes sharpened.
“You need to forget that.”
Vanessa took one step backward.
“What Tokyo account?”
“Vanessa.”
“You’ve used those words for years. Tokyo account. Closing. Transfer. Final authorization.”
His expression became dangerous.
“You’ve had too much to drink.”
“I’ve had one glass.”
“Then start acting like it.”
Vanessa looked toward the door.
She suddenly remembered dozens of conversations she had dismissed.
David leaving the room whenever certain numbers called.
David keeping a second laptop.
David refusing to let her photograph them together.
David telling her Eleanor could never know where he truly spent his Tokyo trips.
Vanessa whispered, “You weren’t working there.”
David did not answer.
She continued.
“What were you doing?”
“Go home.”
“No.”
He stepped toward her.
“You don’t get to say no.”
Something about the sentence struck her.
Maybe because Eleanor had heard the same tone minutes earlier.
Maybe because Vanessa suddenly understood she was not special.
She was merely the woman standing closest to him when Eleanor finally stopped obeying.
Vanessa grabbed her purse.
David relaxed slightly.
Then she walked toward the broken phone.
She picked it up.
“What are you doing?”
“Calling the police.”
He moved quickly.
“Give me that.”
She stepped back.
“Don’t touch me.”
“Vanessa.”
“Did your cousin die because of you?”
David stopped.
The room changed.
Vanessa stared at him.
“Oh my God.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You didn’t say no.”
“Because the question is insane.”
“What happened in Tokyo?”
David reached for the phone.
Vanessa screamed.
Hotel security entered immediately.
David stepped back.
Vanessa pointed at him.
“I want him away from me.”
Security moved between them.
David laughed.
“This is ridiculous.”
Vanessa looked at the security officer.
“Please call the police.”
David’s smile vanished.
“Vanessa.”
She looked at him.
For four years, she had imagined this man leaving his wife and choosing her.
Now she wondered whether he had ever chosen anyone in his life.
“I think I know something about Tokyo.”
David lunged.
Security caught him before he reached her.
Vanessa screamed.
His face transformed.
The charming executive she had loved disappeared.
For one second she saw something cold and desperate.
“Shut your mouth!”
The officer forced him against the wall.
Vanessa stumbled backward.
David struggled.
“You stupid little fool! You have no idea what you’re doing!”
She stared at him.
Then she said the one thing he did not expect.
“I saved everything.”
David stopped moving.
Vanessa saw terror return.
She had lied.
Almost.
She had not saved everything.
But she had saved enough.
Screenshots.
Voice messages.
Photos.
One accidental recording from a night David had fallen asleep with his laptop open.
At the time she thought it was evidence he loved her.
Now she wondered if it was evidence of something else.
Police arrived twelve minutes later.
Vanessa gave them her phone.
And as David watched from across the room, she opened a hidden folder containing a photograph of a document he had once sent her.
At the top was a name.
SHIRO PRIVATE HOLDINGS.
May you like
Beneath it was a balance.
Thirty-eight million dollars.
