Chapter 11 - Vanessa's Real Secret
Two days before the gala, Vanessa requested a private meeting with Emily.
Emily considered refusing.
Then Alexander said, "Take it."
"Why?"
"Because she wants to know what you know."
"That's exactly why I shouldn't."
"Or she gives you something."
Emily agreed on one condition.
Patrick remained in the adjoining office.
Vanessa arrived alone.
No Cynthia.
No dramatic maternity coat.
She wore a dark-green dress shaped around the enormous pregnancy.
Emily gestured toward the chair.
Vanessa remained standing.
"Where is Sophie?"
"Safe."
"I asked where."
"And I answered."
Vanessa smiled coldly.
"You think you've won something."
Emily leaned against the desk.
"I don't know what game you're playing."
"Of course you do."
For the first time, neither woman pretended.
Vanessa placed one hand on her fake stomach.
"You have no idea what marriage to Alexander is like."
"I'm not interested."
"Everyone loves him."
"Still not interested."
"They see the money. The perfect manners. The family name."
She laughed bitterly.
"Nobody sees what it's like to compete with a dead mother and a company he loves more than any living person."
Emily watched her.
Vanessa's anger seemed genuine.
That did not make her innocent.
"You could have left."
"With what?"
Emily almost laughed.
"Vanessa, you were wealthy before you married him."
"Not Whitmore wealthy."
There it was.
Vanessa sat.
"For eight years, every room changed when he entered. People forgot I existed unless I was beside him."
"And a fake baby fixed that?"
Vanessa's eyes sharpened.
Emily waited.
Vanessa whispered, "It wasn't supposed to go this far."
That was the first confession.
Small.
Incomplete.
But real.
Emily said nothing.
Vanessa looked toward the window.
"Alexander told me he wanted a separation."
"I know."
"He said we'd become strangers."
"Were you pregnant?"
Vanessa did not answer.
Emily asked again.
"Were you ever pregnant?"
Vanessa's face changed.
For the first time, Emily saw something beneath the arrogance.
Fear.
And shame.
"I thought I was."
"What does that mean?"
"I was late."
"You took a test?"
"Yes."
"Positive?"
Vanessa looked down.
"No."
Emily remembered the voicemail.
I took another test. It's negative.
"Then why tell Alexander?"
"Because he was leaving."
The answer came out almost like a child's.
"He had already met with a lawyer. Cynthia said if I could slow him down, we'd have time to fix the marriage."
"So you invented a pregnancy."
"I planned to say I lost it after a few weeks."
"But Alexander stayed."
Vanessa's lips trembled.
"He changed overnight."
Emily understood.
Alexander had become attentive.
Hopeful.
Present.
The fake baby had given Vanessa exactly what she wanted.
"And you couldn't give it up."
"He was happy."
"So you kept lying."
"Then Cynthia found Pierce."
"And the prosthetic."
Vanessa looked at her sharply.
Emily had revealed too much.
She knew.
Vanessa stood.
"What do you have?"
Emily did not answer.
"What did Sophie record?"
Emily remained still.
Vanessa's fear became panic.
"Cynthia told me she only talked to her."
"Your sister locked my daughter in a storage room."
"I didn't know that."
"Do you expect me to care?"
"I never wanted Sophie hurt."
"But you threatened her outside the hotel."
"I warned you."
"You warned an eight-year-old."
Vanessa's eyes filled with tears.
"Emily, if this comes out, my life is over."
Emily stared at her.
"Your life isn't my responsibility."
"Alexander will destroy me."
"No."
Emily stepped closer.
"The truth will."
Vanessa grabbed her arm.
"Please."
Emily immediately removed her hand.
Vanessa whispered, "Cynthia moved money without telling me."
Emily paused.
That mattered.
"What money?"
Vanessa realized she had said too much.
Emily did not move.
"Bright Harbor?"
Vanessa's face confirmed it.
"Cynthia told me they were administrative transfers."
"One point eight million dollars."
"I didn't know."
"You recommended the company."
"Because she asked me to."
"Did you receive any of it?"
Vanessa looked away.
"How much?"
"Two hundred thousand."
Emily exhaled.
Vanessa rushed to explain.
"She said it was event consulting."
"You signed foundation documents."
"I didn't read them."
"That's not a defense."
Vanessa began crying.
This time Emily believed the tears were real.
Still not innocence.
"What happens after Switzerland?"
Vanessa froze.
Emily waited.
"What happens to the baby?"
Vanessa whispered, "We announce that he died."
Saying it aloud seemed to break something.
She covered her face.
"I hate that sentence."
"But you planned it."
"Cynthia planned it."
"You agreed."
Vanessa lowered her hands.
"I thought after it was over Alexander would stay because we'd lost a child together."
Emily felt disgust settle inside her.
Vanessa had intended to manufacture grief.
Not only for the public.
For her husband.
She wanted Alexander to mourn a son who never existed because shared mourning might bind him permanently to her.
Emily suddenly understood why the money had never been the true center of the story.
The cruelest theft was not financial.
It was emotional.
Vanessa had stolen eight months of a man's fatherhood and planned to steal years of grief afterward.
Emily looked at her.
"Does Alexander know you're here?"
"No."
"He will."
Vanessa panicked.
"Wait."
Emily opened the adjoining door.
Patrick was standing there.
Beside him was Alexander.
May you like
Vanessa's face collapsed.
He had heard everything.
