Chapter 11 - Laura’s Secret Meeting
Vanessa chose a church.
Not because she was religious.
Because she knew Michael would hesitate to create a scene there.
The cooperation agreement with law enforcement allowed the meeting only because Detective Ruiz insisted on surveillance.
Vanessa believed Michael came alone.
He sat in the last pew.
She arrived wearing a dark wool coat and no makeup.
For the first time in years, she looked like the woman Michael had met before the polished clothes, the board dinners and the Manhattan penthouse.
She sat three feet away.
“Where’s the binder?”
“Safe.”
“You said you’d bring it.”
“I said I would show you what it contains.”
Michael looked at her.
“Laura wrote to you.”
Vanessa’s eyes lowered.
“Yes.”
“When did you meet her?”
“Seven years ago.”
Michael stared.
“That’s when you joined Grant Meridian.”
“Before I joined.”
“How?”
“I wrote to her.”
“Using your real name?”
“Yes.”
“And she answered?”
“Eventually.”
Michael felt betrayed by a dead woman.
“Why didn’t Laura tell me?”
“She planned to.”
“Everyone plans to tell me things.”
Vanessa flinched.
He saw it.
Good.
Then hated himself for being pleased.
“She met me three times,” Vanessa said. “She told me what happened to my father. Not all of it. Enough.”
“She admitted Richard was involved?”
“Yes.”
“Did she tell you Paul framed Thomas?”
Vanessa looked toward the altar.
“She said there were things she couldn’t prove.”
“You had the recording.”
“Not then.”
“Laura left it with your father.”
“I didn’t know.”
Michael leaned toward her.
“Why did Laura write you a letter?”
Vanessa removed one folded sheet from her coat.
Michael recognized the handwriting.
She did not give it to him.
She read.
“Vanessa, anger can make truth feel smaller than it is. My father made a terrible decision. Paul made worse ones. Thomas was innocent of the conduct used to fire him. If you seek justice, do not become the kind of person who can justify anything because the first wrong was done to you.”
Vanessa’s voice broke.
Michael stared at her.
“When did you receive that?”
“After Laura died.”
“How?”
“It was in one of her archived boxes.”
“You stole it.”
“Yes.”
“Then you ignored every word.”
Vanessa looked at him.
“I tried not to.”
“You forged her signature.”
“Paul said the amendment would trigger an audit.”
“You stole millions.”
“Two million went back to the people your family robbed.”
“And the rest?”
“I thought it was protected.”
“By Paul.”
“Yes.”
Michael laughed bitterly.
“You trusted the man who destroyed your father.”
“I trusted evidence he manufactured.”
“Just like Sophie trusted you.”
Vanessa went pale.
Michael continued.
“You understand that, don’t you?”
“Stop.”
“You taught her to copy her mother’s signature.”
“I never told her what it was for.”
“That makes it better?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
Vanessa’s eyes filled.
“Because I needed a clean sample.”
Michael turned away in disgust.
“I scanned combinations of her letters. Paul’s document people assembled them.”
That was new.
“Document people?”
“An outside consultant.”
“Name.”
“I want a deal first.”
“You’re bargaining?”
“I am facing prison.”
“You should.”
She nodded slowly.
“Yes.”
The answer disarmed him.
Vanessa continued.
“I know what I did at the airport.”
“You keep calling it a mistake.”
“I pushed her.”
The church seemed to shrink.
“I was afraid. She grabbed the suitcase. She kept saying she wanted to go home. I had Paul calling me, Adrian yelling at me, the jet crew waiting. I thought if I took Sophie, you’d call it kidnapping.”
“It would have been.”
“So I decided to leave her for you.”
“In a snowstorm?”
“I knew you were nearby.”
Michael froze.
“What?”
Vanessa looked at him.
“I saw your sedan.”
His blood turned cold.
“You knew I was there?”
“Yes.”
“Before you pushed her?”
“Yes.”
Michael stood.
“You saw me.”
“I saw the car.”
“And you thought that made it acceptable?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
Vanessa stood too.
“I wanted you to come out.”
Michael stared.
She whispered, “I wanted the fight.”
“Why?”
“Because I needed to know whose side you would choose.”
Michael almost could not understand the sentence.
“My side or Sophie’s.”
His face changed.
Vanessa realized how monstrous it sounded.
“That isn’t what I meant.”
“It’s exactly what you meant.”
“I was terrified you’d hand me to Paul to save the company.”
“So you tested me with a child.”
“I wasn’t thinking.”
“No. You were.”
Michael stepped closer.
“You were thinking every second.”
Vanessa began crying silently.
He felt nothing comforting.
“Give me the binder.”
She shook her head.
“Not yet.”
“Then this meeting is over.”
“Michael.”
He turned.
Vanessa said, “Paul knows about the recording.”
Michael stopped.
“What recording?”
“Not Laura’s.”
She wiped her face.
“Yours.”
“My airport video?”
“No.”
“The recording from three years ago when you told him you’d do whatever it took to protect Grant Meridian.”
Michael frowned.
“I’ve said that a thousand times.”
“This time you were discussing Sophie’s trust.”
His stomach dropped.
Vanessa whispered, “And out of context, it sounds like you were willing to use her inheritance to save the company.”
Michael stared at her.
“Paul plans to give it to Diane’s attorney.”
May you like
For the first time since the airport, Michael was not afraid of losing the company.
He was afraid of losing Sophie.
