Chapter 18 - Vanessa Stops Lying for One Hour
Victor’s flight did not make him untouchable.
Authorities coordinated across the border.
But financial-crime investigations moved slower than Daniel’s anger.
Vanessa requested another proffer.
This time prosecutors demanded full disclosure.
No games.
No partial truths.
No immunity promised.
Vanessa agreed.
For one hour, she stopped lying.
At least, that was how Patrick later described it.
She admitted Victor recruited her after her father’s company collapsed.
She blamed Daniel for the acquisition.
Her father had died believing Daniel destroyed him.
Vanessa wanted revenge.
At first.
She fed Victor information.
Approved inflated foundation contracts.
Helped discredit Claire.
Then she began sleeping with Victor.
Then Claire found them.
Not physically.
Financially.
Claire traced a payment.
Vanessa panicked.
Victor told her Claire was unstable and Daniel would never believe her.
He was right.
After Claire died, Victor created the next plan.
Get Vanessa close to Daniel.
Vanessa told prosecutors she initially refused.
Then she saw Daniel at Claire’s memorial.
“Broken,” according to the summary.
“Lonely.”
“Easy to guide.”
Daniel stopped reading.
Patrick said, “You don’t need to finish.”
“Yes, I do.”
Vanessa said she had not expected Daniel to be kind to her.
She had not expected Sophie to trust her.
For nearly a year, she considered leaving Victor’s scheme.
Then Victor showed her records proving her involvement in the old fraud.
If she confessed, she would face prison.
So she stayed.
Then she wanted more.
The house.
The status.
The money.
The security.
She stopped thinking of herself as trapped and started thinking of herself as entitled.
Patrick read aloud.
“She says resentment toward Sophie grew because Sophie reminded her that Claire still controlled the family from the grave.”
Daniel whispered, “She was seven.”
Patrick said nothing.
Vanessa admitted using punishments months before the tree.
Isolation.
Cold showers.
Standing outside.
The cane.
She called it “discipline” because that word made the behavior easier for her to justify.
She admitted she knew it was wrong.
No excuse.
For once, no excuse.
Then came Claire.
Victor had not ordered Claire killed, Vanessa said.
But after Claire found the fraud, he wanted to frighten her into stopping.
He had a mechanic loosen a brake fitting enough to create a warning and force Claire to pull over.
The plan was supposedly to make her think her car had been tampered with.
A threat.
But the fitting loosened further while she drove.
The brakes failed.
Claire crashed.
Daniel stopped reading.
He walked into Patrick’s bathroom and vomited.
When he returned, his face was gray.
“She died because he wanted to scare her.”
“That is Vanessa’s claim.”
“And Vanessa knew?”
“She says Victor told her afterward.”
“And she married me.”
“Yes.”
Daniel stared at nothing.
“She held me when I cried about Claire.”
Patrick’s face tightened.
“Yes.”
For the first time since the garden, Daniel wanted to break something.
He did not.
He sat down.
“What can be proven?”
Patrick seemed almost relieved by the question.
“The mechanic has been identified.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Will he talk?”
“Investigators are trying.”
That evening Daniel did not tell Sophie.
She did not need homicide theories or conspiracy details.
She needed dinner.
Homework.
A father who listened when she spoke.
They made grilled cheese badly.
Sophie burned one side.
Daniel ate it anyway.
“Is Vanessa going to jail?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“Is Victor?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you hate them?”
Daniel thought.
“Yes.”
Sophie stared.
He corrected himself.
“I feel hate toward them. That doesn’t mean hate gets to decide what I do.”
She nodded.
“Because you hit Vanessa.”
“Yes.”
“Are you going to jail?”
“Probably not. But I still have to answer for it.”
Sophie chewed slowly.
“Grown-up consequences take forever.”
Daniel laughed despite himself.
“They really do.”
His phone buzzed.
A message from Rebecca.
Victor had sent the board an ultimatum from Canada.
Unless Mercer Biomedical finalized the Halcyon transaction, he would release documents claiming Daniel personally directed offshore payments.
Daniel showed Patrick.
Patrick’s answer was immediate.
May you like
“Blackmail.”
The final corporate battle had begun.
