Chapter 4 - The Woman Who Was Supposed to Leave)
Vanessa had not left the house.
Daniel discovered that when he returned downstairs and found her sitting in the dining room with a glass of water.
A security guard stood by the door.
Her sister had gone.
The other guests had been escorted out.
The engagement party had become an evidence scene without anyone officially calling it one.
Vanessa looked up as Daniel entered.
“Where is Mia?”
“Safe.”
“I asked where she is.”
“You do not get to ask anymore.”
A flicker of anger moved through her eyes.
Then it disappeared.
“Daniel, I know what you think you saw.”
“I watched you cut my daughter’s hair.”
“She was provoking me.”
“She is six.”
“You have no idea what she is like when you are gone.”
Daniel stared at her.
Vanessa leaned forward.
“She lies. She destroys things. She hears conversations and repeats pieces of them. She has been trying to separate us from the beginning.”
“You told Martin to make everyone think she was unstable.”
Vanessa’s face stopped moving.
Daniel saw the instant she understood how much he knew.
“Where did you hear that?”
“Does it matter?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you are being manipulated.”
Daniel nearly laughed.
“By my daughter?”
“By whoever showed you that footage.”
“So it is real.”
“I did not say that.”
“You just did.”
Vanessa stood.
Her control was beginning to break.
“Martin told me Mia’s behavior could become dangerous.”
“Martin is not a child psychologist.”
“No, but he knows what Claire put in the trust.”
The mention of Claire changed the room.
Daniel’s voice lowered.
“What do you know about Claire’s trust?”
Vanessa immediately realized she had gone too far.
“Only what you told me.”
“I never told you anything about Claire’s trust.”
“You mentioned it.”
“When?”
“I do not remember.”
Daniel walked closer.
Vanessa stepped back.
“Did Martin introduce us because of Mia?”
“No.”
“Did he tell you about the shares before we met?”
“No.”
“Did you know marrying me could give you authority over my daughter?”
“No.”
Each answer came faster.
Too fast.
Daniel watched her.
Then Vanessa said something unexpected.
“You think I wanted this?”
He did not answer.
She laughed bitterly.
“You think I planned to spend fourteen months pretending to love you so I could babysit a frightened little girl and wait for paperwork?”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“Be careful.”
“I am telling you that you do not understand what Martin is capable of.”
“Then explain it.”
Vanessa looked toward the security camera in the corner.
Her eyes remained fixed on it.
“Turn that off.”
“No.”
“Daniel.”
“No.”
She lowered her voice.
“He watches everything.”
“Martin?”
Vanessa hesitated.
That hesitation mattered.
“Who watches everything?”
“I want a lawyer.”
“You have one. Apparently he ran out my front door.”
“I want another lawyer.”
Daniel stepped away.
“Then call one.”
Vanessa reached for her phone.
It was gone.
She looked at the table.
The guard said, “Mr. Mercer requested all personal devices be secured.”
Vanessa’s fear became visible.
Not anger.
Fear.
“Give me my phone.”
“No.”
“Daniel, give me my phone.”
“Why?”
“I need it.”
“To call Martin?”
“No.”
“To delete something?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
Vanessa looked toward the camera again.
“Because if I do not answer, he will know.”
Daniel felt a chill.
“Who?”
Vanessa said nothing.
Daniel pulled a chair out and sat across from her.
“Someone else is waiting for the trust.”
Her eyes widened.
Only slightly.
Enough.
“You heard that too.”
“Yes.”
Vanessa closed her eyes.
When she opened them, her expression was different.
Not softer.
More defeated.
“I did not know about Claire at first.”
Daniel did not breathe.
“At first?”
“Martin introduced us at the charity auction. That part you know.”
“What part do I not know?”
“He told me you were lonely. Wealthy. Distracted.”
Daniel’s hands tightened beneath the table.
“He asked me to become important to you.”
“Why?”
“He said there would be money.”
“How much?”
“Enough.”
“You agreed to target me for money.”
Vanessa looked away.
“Yes.”
“And Mia?”
“I was supposed to make you believe she needed professional supervision.”
Daniel stood so abruptly that the chair struck the floor behind him.
The guard moved.
Vanessa flinched.
Daniel did not touch her.
He pressed both hands against the table and stared at her.
“You tortured my child to create evidence that she was unstable.”
“I scared her.”
“You locked her in her room.”
“I never hurt her badly.”
The sentence destroyed whatever restraint remained in his expression.
Vanessa saw it.
“I know how that sounds.”
“You cut her hair in front of strangers.”
“I lost control.”
“You were never supposed to have control over her at all.”
Vanessa’s voice cracked.
“Martin told me nobody would believe Mia.”
Daniel stepped back as though her words carried disease.
Vanessa began crying.
He felt nothing.
“Who is above Martin?”
“I do not know.”
“Lie again and this conversation ends.”
“I am not lying.”
“You said he would know if you did not answer your phone.”
Vanessa wiped her face.
“There is a number.”
“Whose?”
“I do not know.”
“Where?”
“In my phone under V.”
“V for Vanessa?”
“No.”
“What does it stand for?”
Her eyes met his.
“Victor.”
Daniel knew only one Victor connected to his family.
Victor Mercer.
His father’s older brother.
Daniel’s uncle had disappeared from corporate life twenty years earlier after being accused of stealing from the family company.
Daniel’s grandfather had removed him from every position and cut him out of the inheritance.
Victor had spent years challenging the Mercer trusts in court.
He had lost every time.
Daniel had not spoken to him since Daniel was nineteen.
“He is seventy years old.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“I never met him.”
“How do you know the name?”
“Martin said it once.”
“Once?”
“When he thought I was asleep.”
Daniel’s mind raced.
Victor had motive.
But not access.
Not anymore.
Unless Martin had given him access.
Vanessa suddenly leaned forward.
“There is something else.”
Daniel did not move.
“The night Claire died.”
Every sound in the room seemed to disappear.
Vanessa whispered, “Martin kept a newspaper clipping about the crash.”
Daniel’s face went cold.
“So?”
“He kept it in a safe.”
“How do you know?”
“I saw it.”
“Why would Martin keep a newspaper clipping?”
“There was writing on the back.”
Daniel waited.
Vanessa swallowed.
“It said, First obstacle removed.”
For several seconds Daniel heard only the pounding of his own heart.
Then the security monitor in the adjoining living room turned on.
Nobody touched it.
A single camera feed appeared.
The front gate.
A black sedan was parked outside.
Its headlights were off.
A man stood beside it.
Older.
Gray-haired.
Holding a cane.
Daniel had not seen his uncle Victor in more than two decades.
But he recognized him immediately.
May you like
Victor Mercer looked directly into the security camera.
Then he smiled.
