Chapter 6 - Why She Chose Ethan
The interview took place at Daniel’s office.
Vanessa arrived wearing a cream suit Ethan had once told her he loved.
He hated noticing.
Her attorney, Maya Kent, sat beside her.
Daniel sat beside Ethan.
Noah was nowhere near the building.
That condition had been nonnegotiable.
Vanessa looked at Ethan.
“Is he okay?”
“Don’t use him to make this easier.”
Her jaw tightened.
“I care about Noah.”
“You planted stolen property in his backpack.”
“My property.”
“That distinction matters only to you.”
Maya intervened.
“Ethan, Vanessa is here voluntarily.”
Daniel replied, “Then she can answer voluntarily.”
Vanessa looked exhausted.
For the first time since Ethan met her, she seemed less polished than angry.
“I was Olivia Mercer.”
“I know.”
“I changed my name after my father died.”
“Why?”
“Because Mercer became a punch line in finance.”
Ethan said nothing.
“My father lost everything.”
“He also made bad investments.”
“Yes.”
Vanessa’s eyes sharpened.
“And your father used confidential information to finish him.”
“Claire believed Richard acted improperly.”
“Claire knew.”
“She believed some of your evidence.”
“She promised to fix it.”
“Then why were you threatening her?”
Vanessa’s expression changed.
“I was twenty-eight.”
“That is not an answer.”
“I was watching my father fall apart.”
Thomas Mercer had suffered depression after the collapse.
He died of a heart attack at sixty-one.
Vanessa had blamed the Bennetts.
After Claire died, Vanessa abandoned her attempts to pursue the issue.
At least publicly.
Then, three years later, she saw Ethan scheduled to appear at a Boston charity gala.
“I bought a ticket.”
“So you targeted me.”
“Yes.”
The word landed heavily.
“Why?”
“I wanted access.”
“To what?”
“Records.”
“What records?”
“Your father’s private files.”
“And then?”
Vanessa looked down.
“I didn’t expect you to be kind.”
Ethan laughed once.
“Please don’t make this romantic.”
“I’m not.”
“You approached a widower under a false name.”
“I know.”
“You became involved with his son.”
“I know.”
“You accepted a marriage proposal.”
Her voice cracked.
“I know.”
Ethan had never heard shame from her before.
That made it more dangerous, not less.
“Did you ever love me?”
Maya touched Vanessa’s arm.
Vanessa ignored her.
“Yes.”
Ethan felt nothing.
Or too much.
“I came for records. I stayed because I loved you.”
“And Noah?”
“I loved him too.”
“No.”
Vanessa flinched.
“You don’t get to use that word without explaining the bracelet.”
She looked away.
Ethan continued.
“Why were you trying to move Noah’s voting rights?”
“The Bennett shares were leverage.”
“For what?”
“To force a settlement.”
“With whom?”
“The company.”
“You were going to use my son’s inheritance to settle your father’s grievance?”
“I wanted a trust structure that made the board negotiate.”
“You wanted control.”
“For a limited period.”
Ethan stared at her.
“You sound like Blake.”
“He told me it could be done lawfully.”
“Only if I signed.”
“Yes.”
“And you planned to manipulate me until I did.”
Vanessa said nothing.
Ethan leaned forward.
“Was the bracelet the first time?”
She looked at him.
His stomach dropped.
“What else did you do?”
“Nothing like that.”
“That is not what I asked.”
Vanessa closed her eyes.
“There were small things.”
“What things?”
“I moved one of Noah’s school folders.”
Ethan went cold.
“When?”
“Last month.”
Noah had been reprimanded for repeatedly losing homework.
Ethan remembered telling him he needed to become more responsible.
“What else?”
“I deleted an email from his teacher.”
Daniel whispered, “Jesus.”
“What else?”
Vanessa’s voice became tiny.
“I broke the model airplane.”
Ethan stood.
Noah had spent three weeks building it.
When it shattered, Vanessa suggested he had broken it during a tantrum and forgotten.
Noah insisted someone had moved it.
Ethan had told him to stop making excuses.
He turned away.
Every memory hurt differently now.
Not because of Vanessa.
Because of himself.
“She told you what she was doing,” he said.
Vanessa frowned.
“Who?”
“Claire.”
He faced her.
“She wrote that I decide what kind of person someone is, then fit their actions into that decision.”
Vanessa went pale.
“You found her letter.”
“Yes.”
“She never trusted me.”
“She wanted evidence.”
“She was protecting your family.”
“She was trying to establish what actually happened.”
“That family destroyed mine.”
“And you decided that made Noah available for revenge?”
“No!”
Vanessa slammed her palm on the table.
“I never wanted to hurt him.”
“You needed me to believe he was unstable.”
“I needed you to sign.”
“That is hurting him.”
Silence.
Maya finally asked, “Vanessa, what did Blake tell you would happen once the trust amendment was executed?”
Vanessa hesitated.
“He said the voting rights would be transferred to a special fiduciary foundation.”
“Which you controlled.”
“Temporarily.”
Maya’s face hardened.
“Did he tell you beneficial rights could also be transferred?”
“No.”
Daniel looked at Ethan.
That answer mattered.
Blake may have been running his own scheme.
Ethan sat again.
“What was he getting?”
Vanessa looked confused.
“A fee.”
“How much?”
“Two hundred thousand.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No lawyer risks disbarment for that alone.”
Vanessa stared.
Then Daniel asked, “Who introduced Blake to you?”
She answered with a name nobody expected.
“Charles Bennett.”
Ethan froze.
His uncle.
His father’s younger brother.
A man who sat on the board of Bennett Hospitality.
And who would gain enormous voting power if Noah’s shares stopped being controlled by Ethan.
May you like
The plot had just moved back inside the Bennett family.
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