Chapter 6 - Chapter 6: What Vanessa Wanted
Vanessa did not hate children.She hated obstacles.Lily Bennett was an obstacle with curls, tearful eyes, and a dead mother whose memory filled every room of Lucas’s house.At first, Vanessa thought Lily would be easy to manage. A few gifts, a few smiles, a few sweet words in front of Lucas.But Lily had Grace’s eyes.And Lucas always softened when he looked at her.That was dangerous.Because Vanessa had not come into Lucas’s life by accident.Her family’s company, Hartwell Events, was drowning in debt. Her father owed money to investors. Her mother had sold jewelry to keep appearances alive. Their mansion was mortgaged, their accounts nearly empty, and their friends were beginning to whisper.Lucas Bennett was not just a groom.He was a rescue plan.Marriage to Lucas would restore everything.But there was one problem.Grace Bennett had left a protected trust for Lily. A large portion of Bennett family assets would remain locked under Lily’s name until she turned twenty-one. Lucas could manage the trust, but he could not transfer it for personal use.Unless he signed new family management papers after remarriage.Vanessa’s father had found a legal loophole. A cruel one. If Lily was declared emotionally unstable and sent to a private residential school, Vanessa could convince Lucas that the trust should be managed through a “family welfare foundation.”A foundation controlled by Vanessa.It sounded clean. Respectable. Loving, even.Vanessa only needed two things.Lucas’s signature.And Lily out of the way.Grace’s letter could ruin all of it.Because Grace had known what wealth could attract.And she had protected her daughter even from the future.
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