Chapter 5
I didn’t sleep at all that night.
I sat in my study, going through everything Marcus had given me.
The bank records.
The hotel receipts.
The text messages between Vanessa and Ethan.
They were worse than I could have imagined.
“Almost got the old woman to sign,” one from Vanessa read. “Another week and she’s in the home.”
“Good,” Ethan replied. “Then we can move the rest of the money and be in Monaco by summer.”
I read that one twice.
Three times.
They weren’t just planning to steal from me.
They were planning to disappear.
To leave me with nothing.
To leave my mother to rot in a nursing home she didn’t belong in.
And they would have gotten away with it too.
If I hadn’t come home a day early.
If I hadn’t heard my mother crying.
If I hadn’t hit record on my phone.
I closed my eyes.
Thought about all the times I had defended Vanessa to my mother.
“She’s just stressed about the wedding.”
“She didn’t mean it like that.”
“Give her a chance, Mom. She’s family now.”
The guilt was a physical weight in my chest.
I had failed her.
But I was going to make it right.
My phone buzzed.
A text from an unknown number.
I opened it.
It was a photo.
Vanessa, standing outside my gate, soaking wet, screaming at the security guards.
The text below it read: “You think this is over? I’m going to make you sorry you were ever born.”
I didn’t reply.
I just forwarded it to James.
Then I blocked the number.
Ten minutes later, my phone buzzed again.
This time it was Vanessa’s mother.
Sofia.
“Daniel,” she said when I answered, her voice dripping with fake concern. “I just heard what happened. Vanessa is beside herself. She says you misunderstood everything. Can’t we just talk about this like adults?”
“I have nothing to say to you,” I said.
“Now, Daniel,” she said, her voice hardening. “Let’s not be hasty. You’re a wealthy man. You have a reputation to protect. Do you really want this to get out? The engagement ending in scandal? Your mother’s… condition… becoming public knowledge?”
I smiled coldly.
“Are you threatening me, Sofia?”
“I’m offering you a way out,” she said. “Sign a nondisclosure agreement. Pay Vanessa a reasonable settlement. And we’ll all pretend this never happened.”
“Or?” I said.
“Or,” she said, “I’ll go to every tabloid in the city. I’ll tell them about your mother’s ‘mental instability.’ I’ll tell them how you’ve been neglecting her. How you’re using her as an excuse to end the engagement because you found someone younger. It won’t be pretty, Daniel. For any of us.”
I thought about the recording on my phone.
Thought about the bank records.
Thought about the text messages.
“Go ahead,” I said.
“Tell them whatever you want.”
I hung up.
Blocked her number too.
An hour later, the first article hit the tabloids.
“BILLIONAIRE DANIEL REYNOLDS DUMPS FIANCÉE VANESSA HART—CLAIMS MOTHER’S ‘MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES’ TO BLAME!”
The article was full of lies.
Quotes from “anonymous sources” about my mother’s “confusion” and “erratic behavior.”
Quotes from Vanessa’s “heartbroken” mother about how the family had “tried so hard to help.”
A photo of Vanessa, looking tearful and fragile, leaving her apartment.
I read it once.
Then I sent it to Marcus.
“Good,” he wrote back. “Let them dig their own graves.”
By noon, my phone was ringing off the hook.
Reporters.
Business partners.
Friends.
I didn’t answer any of them.
Except one.
Ethan.
My CFO.
My best friend.
“Daniel,” he said when I answered. His voice was tight. Nervous. “I just saw the news. Is it true? About Vanessa?”
I held the phone away from my face for a second.
Listened to him lie.
To my face.
After everything he had done.
“Yes,” I said calmly. “It’s true.”
“Man, I’m so sorry,” he said. “If I had known she was capable of this—”
“Ethan,” I interrupted.
He stopped talking.
“I know about Paris,” I said.
Silence.
Long, heavy silence.
“I know about the money,” I said.
“I know about the offshore accounts.”
“I know about every single thing you and Vanessa planned.”
Ethan’s breath caught in his throat.
“Daniel, I can explain—”
“Don’t,” I said. “You’re fired. Effective immediately. Security will be at your office in ten minutes to escort you out. And if I were you, I’d get a lawyer. A very good one.”
I hung up.
Blocked him too.
I leaned back in my chair.
Exhaled slowly.
Three down.
Vanessa.
Sofia.
Ethan.
And Richard, Vanessa’s brother, still to go.
My phone buzzed again.
This time it was James.
“Mr. Reynolds,” he said. “We have a situation at the gate.”
“What kind of situation?”
“Vanessa is back,” he said. “And she’s brought reporters.”
I stood up.
Walked to the window.
Sure enough, there was a crowd gathering at the front gate.
Cameras.
Microphones.
And in the middle of it all, Vanessa, putting on the performance of her life.
“Let me through!” she was screaming. “I need to see him! I need to see my mother-in-law! She’s sick and she needs me!”
I watched her for a moment.
Then I turned to Marcus, who was standing in the doorway.
“Is everything ready?” I said.
He nodded.
May you like
“Everything.”
“Good,” I said. “Let’s give them a show.”
