Chapter 3 - VANESSA'S SECRET
By morning, the Whitmore family had lost $1.8 billion on paper.
By noon, four subsidiaries had entered emergency restructuring.
By evening, Charles Whitmore was no longer laughing.
But Vanessa still believed she could save herself.
She arrived at my mother's house without warning.
I opened the door.
She stood there wearing sunglasses and a black coat.
“Daniel.”
“No.”
“I haven't said anything.”
“You don't have to.”
She removed her sunglasses.
“I was angry.”
“You humiliated my mother.”
“I made a mistake.”
“You laughed while she was crying.”
Her face tightened.
“I didn't know she was important.”
That sentence told me everything.
I stepped aside.
“Go home, Vanessa.”
She grabbed my arm.
“Please.”
I looked down at her hand.
She released me.
“My father is destroying himself,” she whispered. “The banks are calling. The board wants him out. People are talking about prison.”
“And?”
“You can stop it.”
“No.”
“You love me.”
I almost laughed.
“I loved the woman I thought you were.”
She looked away.
“I can change.”
“People don't reveal who they are when they're comfortable. They reveal who they are when they think nobody can hurt them.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“You're really doing this?”
“Yes.”
She lowered her voice.
“Then you'll regret it.”
I looked at her.
“Is that a threat?”
She immediately shook her head.
“No.”
But I noticed something.
Her hand was trembling.
Not from fear.
From guilt.
I closed the door.
Ten minutes later, Rebecca called.
“Daniel.”
“Yes?”
“You were right about Vanessa.”
“What did you find?”
“She has a second phone.”
I stopped walking.
“Where?”
“Security footage shows her meeting someone last month.”
“Who?”
“Your father's former business partner.”
My blood went cold.
“Victor Hale?”
“Yes.”
Victor Hale had disappeared from the financial world fifteen years earlier.
He had been Charles's closest partner.
Then one morning, he vanished.
Rebecca continued.
“They've been meeting for months.”
“Why?”
“We don't know yet.”
I pulled up the footage.
Vanessa entered a private club.
Victor was waiting.
He handed her a folder.
She opened it.
Her expression changed.
Then she kissed him.
I froze.
Not because she had kissed another man.
Because Victor Hale was Charles Whitmore's former partner.
And because the footage was dated six months before my wedding.
Rebecca said, “There's more.”
“What?”
“Vanessa knew about your identity.”
I felt something inside me go completely still.
“How?”
“She accessed the Northbridge records.”
My jaw tightened.
“So she knew who I was?”
“Yes.”
I stared at the screen.
The woman I had planned to marry hadn't accidentally fallen in love with me.
She had targeted me.
Rebecca sent another file.
Inside was a message from Vanessa to Victor.
Daniel doesn't know who he really is.
Once I marry him, the Northbridge assets become accessible.
Charles thinks he's using me.
He doesn't understand.
I'm using both of them.
I sat down.
For two years, I had believed I was playing a long game.
Apparently, Vanessa had been playing one too.
Only she didn't know the final rule.
I had never planned to marry her.
Not after I discovered the first lie.
The engagement had simply given me access to the Whitmore family.
But now I understood something much worse.
Vanessa wasn't Charles's victim.
She was his partner.
And Victor Hale was still alive.
Which meant someone else was controlling the game.
I called Rebecca.
“Find Victor.”
“We already did.”
“Where?”
“He's on a private jet.”
“Destination?”
She hesitated.
“Your mother's old house.”
I stood immediately.
“What?”
“The house your father supposedly lost twenty-two years ago.”
I grabbed my keys.
“Get there before me.”
“Daniel…”
May you like
“What?”
“Someone is already inside.”