Chapter 6
I walked out the front door.
The cameras started flashing immediately.
“Daniel! Daniel, over here!”
“Is it true your mother has dementia?”
“Vanessa says you’re abusing her! Is that true?”
I ignored them all.
Walked straight to the gate.
Vanessa was pressed against the bars, tears streaming down her face, looking like the picture of a wronged woman.
“Daniel,” she sobbed when she saw me. “Thank God. Please, let me explain. I love you. I love your mother. Whatever she told you, it’s not true. She’s confused. She doesn’t know what she’s saying.”
I looked at her.
Really looked at her.
For the first time, I didn’t see the woman I had almost married.
I saw a stranger.
A cruel, calculating stranger who had almost destroyed everything I loved.
“Everyone,” I said, raising my voice so the cameras could hear.
“I have something to show you.”
I pulled out my phone.
Connected it to the portable speaker James had brought out.
Pressed play.
Vanessa’s voice—cold, cruel, nothing like the sobbing woman in front of me—boomed over the speakers.
“Sign it, Eleanor. The nursing home is already expecting you.”
The crowd went silent.
Vanessa’s face drained of color.
“Daniel agrees to whatever keeps his perfect image clean. And once we’re married, I decide who has access to him.”
The reporters started murmuring.
Cameras flashed faster.
Vanessa shook her head wildly.
“It’s fake!” she screamed. “That’s not me! He edited it!”
I let the recording play.
“Sign the NDA, and admit you’re moving voluntarily. Or I’ll make sure your son never speaks to you again.”
“He’s all I have.”
“No. He’s all I have.”
I stopped the recording.
The silence was deafening.
Vanessa looked around at the cameras.
At the reporters.
At the crowd that had gathered.
The mask was gone now.
The tears were gone.
In their place was pure, unadulterated rage.
“You think this matters?” she screamed at me, her voice raw. “You think one recording changes anything? I have friends! I have power! You’ll regret this, Daniel! You and that old woman will both regret this!”
She lunged at the gate.
James stepped forward.
“Ma’am,” he said calmly. “You need to leave.”
“Or what?” she spat. “You’ll arrest me? Go ahead! I’ll tell everyone how you’re all in his pocket! How he’s—”
“Vanessa.”
A new voice.
We all turned.
Her mother was walking up the driveway, looking furious.
“Stop making a scene,” Sofia hissed, grabbing her daughter’s arm. “We’re leaving. Now.”
“I’m not leaving until he—”
“Now!”
Sofia pulled her away.
Vanessa fought her for a moment, then seemed to realize the cameras were still rolling.
She composed herself.
Turned back to me.
“This isn’t over,” she said quietly, so only I could hear.
I smiled.
“Yes,” I said. “It is.”
They left.
The reporters stayed for a while, shouting questions.
I answered none of them.
I just turned around and walked back into the house.
Marcus was waiting for me in the living room.
“That was quite a performance,” he said.
“Mine or hers?”
“Both,” he said. “But yours was more effective. By tonight, that recording will be everywhere. Her reputation is finished.”
“Good,” I said.
I walked into the kitchen.
My mother was standing by the window, watching the reporters leave.
She turned to me when I entered.
“Did you… did you really play it for all of them?” she said.
I nodded.
“I did.”
She was quiet for a moment.
Then she smiled.
A small, shaky, beautiful smile.
“Thank you,” she said.
I pulled her into a hug.
“No,” I said. “Thank you. For being brave enough to tell me the truth.”
We stood like that for a long time.
Then Marcus cleared his throat.
“As much as I hate to break this up,” he said, “we have work to do. The recording is devastating for Vanessa, but we need more for the criminal charges. The embezzlement, the conspiracy, the elder abuse. We need to build an airtight case.”
I nodded.
“Tell me what you need.”
“Your mother’s testimony,” he said. “Everything she told us last night. We need it formal, recorded, under oath. And we need to move fast. Vanessa and her family will be trying to destroy evidence right now.”
My mother took a deep breath.
“I’m ready,” she said.
Marcus nodded.
“Good. I’ll have a court reporter here in an hour. In the meantime, James, I need you to—”
His phone rang.
He answered it.
Listened.
His face went dark.
“Understood,” he said. “We’ll be right there.”
He hung up.
“What is it?” I said.
“Ethan,” he said. “He’s at the office. Trying to access the servers. He’s deleting everything.”
May you like
I was already moving toward the door.
“Let’s go.”
