Chapter 10 - The Woman at the Gate
Daniel was already moving before Eric finished speaking.
Margaret called security.
The guesthouse cameras showed nothing unusual.
Then the front gate alarm sounded.
A woman stood outside.
Vanessa.
She wore jeans, a dark coat, and no makeup.
She looked exhausted.
Daniel arrived twelve minutes later.
Vanessa had not moved.
Security kept her beyond the gate.
Daniel stepped out of the car.
“Stay away from my daughter.”
Vanessa lifted her hands.
“I came to warn you.”
“You had four days to warn me.”
“I couldn’t.”
“You starved a four-year-old.”
Vanessa closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
Daniel’s voice sharpened.
“Don’t you dare act ashamed now.”
“I am ashamed.”
“That doesn’t feed her.”
Vanessa looked at him.
“I thought I could make her remember the key.”
Daniel nearly crossed the gate.
Security stepped closer.
“You punished my daughter because she couldn’t solve your puzzle.”
“Yes.”
The direct admission made him angrier.
Vanessa wiped her face.
“I told myself it was only one meal.”
Daniel stared.
“That sentence tells me everything I need to know about you.”
“I know.”
“Why are you here?”
“Eric knows about the video.”
Daniel froze.
Vanessa saw it.
“You found Emily’s recording.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Eric has been waiting for you to find it.”
Daniel said nothing.
Vanessa approached the gate.
“He wanted you to distrust me.”
“That was not difficult.”
“He wanted you to distrust Judith.”
“Also not difficult.”
“He wanted everyone separated.”
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“Emily said Eric was behind the financial transfers.”
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“Emily believed that when she recorded the first video.”
“First?”
Vanessa nodded.
“There was another.”
Daniel stared.
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Convenient.”
“She made it after she realized who Eric was protecting.”
“Who?”
Vanessa looked toward the guesthouse.
“Sophie.”
Daniel’s entire posture changed.
“What does Sophie have to do with Eric?”
“Nothing.”
Vanessa’s eyes filled.
“That’s why Emily became terrified.”
Daniel waited.
“Eric wasn’t working alone.”
“Who?”
Vanessa hesitated.
“Michael.”
Daniel frowned.
“Emily said Michael helped her.”
“He did.”
“Then why?”
“Because Michael discovered the truth too late.”
Vanessa gripped the gate.
“He was Eric’s father.”
Daniel stared at her.
“Michael Reed was Eric Nolan’s father?”
“Yes.”
“Different surnames.”
“Eric used his mother’s name.”
Daniel remembered Michael disappearing thirteen years ago.
“What happened to him?”
Vanessa looked away.
“Eric said he ran.”
“You believed him?”
“For years.”
“And now?”
“I think Eric made sure he couldn’t talk.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“If you have evidence, give it to me.”
“I have part of it.”
Vanessa removed an envelope from her coat.
Security retrieved it first.
Inside was a photocopy of a bank transfer.
Twenty million dollars.
Reedwell Trust to Nolan Strategic Holdings.
Dated eleven years earlier.
Daniel looked up.
“This proves Eric received money.”
“No.”
Vanessa pointed.
“Look at the authorization.”
Daniel read the signature.
Michael Reed.
“His father transferred it.”
“Yes.”
“Then Emily was wrong.”
“Not exactly.”
Vanessa took a shaky breath.
“Michael transferred the money because someone threatened to expose what he had done years earlier.”
“What?”
“He forged parts of the original Reedwell trust.”
Margaret stepped forward from behind Daniel.
“Impossible.”
Vanessa looked at her.
“You knew there were missing pages.”
Margaret’s face changed.
Daniel noticed.
“Margaret?”
She said nothing.
Daniel turned toward her.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“You keep using that word when you mean hid.”
Margaret looked ashamed.
“The original trust had inconsistent page numbering.”
Vanessa continued.
“Michael altered ownership records to protect Emily’s grandmother during the first lawsuit.”
“Protect her from whom?”
“Judith’s husband.”
Daniel frowned.
“Vanessa’s father?”
“Yes.”
“My father was dangerous with money.”
Vanessa’s face hardened.
“He borrowed against family assets.”
Daniel absorbed it.
“So Michael forged records.”
“Yes.”
“Eric discovered it.”
“Yes.”
“And blackmailed everyone.”
“Yes.”
Daniel looked toward the house where Sophie waited.
“Why involve Sophie?”
“Because once Emily made Sophie the irrevocable beneficiary, Eric lost leverage.”
Daniel understood.
“He needed the original certificate changed.”
Vanessa nodded.
“Or destroyed.”
A car approached rapidly behind Daniel.
Security vehicles moved to block it.
Eric’s sedan stopped near the gate.
He stepped out.
Daniel stared.
Vanessa went pale.
“Don’t let him near Sophie.”
Eric looked at Vanessa.
“You finally came back.”
She backed away.
Daniel moved between them.
Eric raised his hands.
“Daniel, she’s manipulating you.”
Vanessa laughed.
“That’s rich.”
Eric ignored her.
“She stole the trust papers.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“You told me to.”
“I told you to find them.”
Daniel’s gaze moved between them.
Both guilty.
Both accusing.
Then Sophie appeared at an upstairs guesthouse window.
Every adult saw her.
Vanessa’s face broke.
Eric’s expression changed.
Not anger.
Fear.
He whispered.
“Oh, no.”
Daniel turned.
“What?”
Eric stared past Sophie.
At the hallway behind her.
A shadow moved.
May you like
Then Sophie disappeared from the window.
Daniel ran.
