Chapter 2 - The Story Vanessa Needed Everyone to Believe
Vanessa knelt beside Elena without actually touching her.
She performed grief like a woman auditioning for the role of a lifetime.
“Elena, please wake up.”
Her voice shook.
“I’m so sorry.”
Mrs. Howard reached for her phone.
Vanessa watched the movement from the corner of her eye.
“Who are you calling?”
“911.”
Vanessa’s jaw tightened for less than a second.
Then she nodded.
“Yes.”
“Of course.”
“That’s what we should do.”
But before Mrs. Howard could dial, footsteps approached from the dining room.
Nathan’s younger brother, Daniel, appeared with his wife, Claire.
“What happened?”
Claire gasped when she saw Elena.
Vanessa immediately stood.
“She tried to attack me.”
Daniel frowned.
“What?”
“She accused me of sleeping with Nathan.”
Vanessa looked humiliated.
“She started screaming.”
“She grabbed me.”
“I pushed her away without thinking.”
Claire’s eyes narrowed.
“Elena screamed?”
“Yes.”
“That’s strange.”
Vanessa turned toward her.
“Why?”
“Because we were in the dining room.”
Claire pointed toward the open doorway.
“We heard the fall.”
“We didn’t hear Elena screaming.”
Vanessa froze.
Only for a heartbeat.
Then she recovered.
“You were talking.”
“No.”
Daniel shook his head.
“We weren’t.”
Elena kept her eyes closed.
She had always underestimated Claire.
Apparently Vanessa had too.
Vanessa suddenly began crying harder.
“I don’t remember every second perfectly.”
“I’m in shock.”
Mrs. Howard watched her closely now.
The first crack had appeared.
Elena felt her hidden phone vibrate once.
A signal from Ruiz.
He was inside the property.
She resisted the urge to move.
Vanessa stepped closer to Daniel.
“You know what Elena has been doing to this family.”
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“What exactly has she been doing?”
Vanessa blinked.
“She’s been manipulating Nathan.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“She wants the company.”
“Elena has never worked for Howard Industries.”
“She wants the money.”
“She signed a prenup.”
Vanessa’s breathing changed.
Claire folded her arms.
“And Elena was the one who insisted on the prenup.”
Vanessa looked around the foyer.
The audience she expected to control was slipping away.
So she changed tactics.
“She’s carrying Nathan’s child.”
Vanessa’s voice became softer.
“Once that baby is born, the prenup doesn’t matter.”
Elena felt a surge of anger.
There it was.
The real motive.
Not love.
Not jealousy.
Inheritance.
Mrs. Howard’s face changed.
“What do you know about the trust?”
Vanessa realized immediately that she had said too much.
“I don’t know anything.”
“You just mentioned the baby affecting the prenup.”
“I assumed.”
“You assumed very specifically.”
Before Vanessa could answer, headlights swept across the mansion windows.
Three vehicles stopped outside.
Vanessa glanced toward the door.
Her face lost color.
“Who is that?”
Nobody answered.
The front door opened.
Detective Mateo Ruiz entered first.
Two uniformed officers followed him.
Behind them came a woman carrying a sealed evidence case.
Vanessa stepped backward.
Detective Ruiz looked at Elena.
Then he looked directly at Vanessa.
“Vanessa Mercer?”
She swallowed.
“Yes.”
Ruiz removed a recorder from his coat.
“You might want to stop talking.”
Vanessa stared at him.
“Why?”
May you like
Ruiz’s gaze moved toward the tiny black camera hidden inside the carved molding above the staircase.
“Because you’ve already given us more than enough.”
