Chapter 3
I barely slept.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw my mother falling backward into the fountain.
Then I heard Vanessa's voice.
You should really read things before you sign them.
At six the next morning, I called my attorney.
Her name was Olivia Grant.
She had handled contracts for my construction company since I started the business.
When I explained what happened, she didn't interrupt.
Not once.
Then she said, "Nick, I need you to stop communicating directly with Vanessa about money or property."
I sat up.
"Why?"
"Because this may involve fraud, and we need to preserve evidence."
I rubbed my forehead.
"She said I signed documents concerning the house."
"Bring everything you have."
"Olivia, can she take it?"
"I can't answer that until I review the records."
I looked toward my mother's bedroom.
She was still asleep.
"There's something else."
"What?"
"Vanessa may have transferred business money without authorization."
Olivia fell silent.
Then she said, "Get David involved. We need the bank records immediately."
By eight, I was sitting in her office.
David joined us with a folder of financial documents.
I placed my phone on the table.
Every threatening message Vanessa had sent was still there.
Olivia reviewed them carefully.
Then she opened the property records.
The house was still titled in my name.
I exhaled.
"Thank God."
But Olivia wasn't smiling.
"Nick, there's an application for a home equity line of credit."
I frowned.
"On my house?"
"Yes."
"How much?"
"Four hundred thousand dollars."
My stomach dropped.
"I didn't apply for that."
Olivia turned the document toward me.
A signature appeared at the bottom.
It looked like mine.
But something was wrong.
The letters were too smooth.
The final stroke curved differently.
I leaned closer.
"That's not my signature."
Olivia nodded.
"We'll need a qualified examiner to compare it with genuine examples."
David looked at me.
"Nick, do you remember signing anything last week?"
I tried to think.
Vanessa had asked me to sign several wedding-related documents.
One was a catering agreement.
Another concerned transportation.
She'd also handed me a stack of papers while I was leaving for a construction meeting.
I remembered signing one page without reading the entire packet.
The memory made my stomach twist.
"She told me it was an updated wedding insurance form."
Olivia looked concerned.
"Do you still have a copy?"
"No."
She wrote something down.
"We'll obtain the lender's application records."
I covered my face.
How could I have been so careless?
I'd built a successful company by checking every contract.
Every invoice.
Every agreement.
But with Vanessa, I'd stopped asking questions.
I believed trust meant never doubting her.
Now I understood the difference between trust and blindness.
Olivia leaned forward.
"Nick, blaming yourself won't help us recover the money."
I nodded.
She continued.
"We need to determine what was submitted, who submitted it, and whether the lender relied on false information."
Then David opened another folder.
"I found something else."
I looked up.
He placed a bank statement in front of me.
Several smaller transfers had occurred during the previous four months.
Fifteen thousand dollars.
Twenty thousand.
Eight thousand.
Another twelve thousand.
All connected to wedding expenses or consulting companies I'd never heard of.
I stared at the numbers.
"How much?"
David swallowed.
"At least seventy thousand dollars beyond the transfer we discovered last night."
I felt cold.
"Why didn't anyone catch this?"
"Most were coded as approved project expenses," David explained. "The descriptions matched vendor categories we commonly use."
I looked at him.
"Someone knew how our accounting system worked."
He nodded.
"Exactly."
I remembered Vanessa asking endless questions about my business.
Which projects were most profitable.
How I managed payroll.
Who could approve transfers.
At the time, I'd been flattered by her interest.
She told me she wanted to understand my world.
Now I wondered whether she'd been studying it.
Olivia asked me to list everyone who had access to my business laptop.
"Me. David, through authorized systems. My operations manager, through his own account."
"Anyone else?"
I hesitated.
"Vanessa used my laptop occasionally."
David looked down.
Olivia remained calm.
"Did she know your passwords?"
"Some of them."
I felt ashamed admitting it.
She nodded.
"We'll secure the accounts immediately."
By noon, David had coordinated with the bank to restrict unauthorized access and preserve transaction records.
Olivia arranged for the property lender to review the suspicious application.
Then she asked about the engagement party.
"Did anyone record what happened?"
I almost laughed.
"Two hundred people were there. Half of them probably had their phones out."
"Can you obtain the footage?"
I nodded.
"My friend Jordan was filming."
Jordan Mitchell had been my closest friend since college.
He was also supposed to be my best man.
I called him.
He answered immediately.
"Nick, I've been trying to reach you."
"Jordan, I need the video from last night."
He became quiet.
"Which one?"
"The fountain."
He exhaled.
"Nick, I've already saved it."
I closed my eyes.
"Send it to Olivia."
"Of course."
Then he hesitated.
"There's something else you should know."
My stomach tightened.
"What?"
"Vanessa told several guests your mother attacked her."
I stared at the wall.
"What?"
"She's claiming Martha grabbed her first."
I felt anger rise.
"That's a lie."
"I know. The video shows what happened."
I took a slow breath.
"Who is spreading it?"
"Vanessa's mother."
Of course.
Patricia.
The woman connected to the company that received my missing money.
I thanked Jordan and ended the call.
That afternoon, Olivia reviewed the footage.
The video clearly showed Vanessa confronting my mother near the fountain.
Martha stepped backward.
She did not touch Vanessa.
Then Vanessa placed both hands against her shoulders and shoved her.
My mother fell into the water.
The guests gasped.
Vanessa laughed.
Olivia stopped the video.
"That's strong evidence of what happened."
I nodded.
My throat burned.
Then Olivia asked a question I hadn't expected.
"Nick, has Vanessa ever treated your mother badly before?"
I looked away.
There had been comments.
Small insults.
Little jokes about my mother's clothes.
Complaints that Mom wasn't sophisticated enough.
I had brushed them aside.
I told myself Vanessa simply had different tastes.
Now I remembered how often my mother had gone quiet when Vanessa entered a room.
How she'd stopped visiting as frequently.
How she'd sometimes called me only when Vanessa wasn't around.
I felt sick.
"I think I ignored things I should have noticed."
Olivia's expression softened.
"Then pay attention now."
My phone vibrated.
A message from Jordan appeared.
Nick, call me. I just found something in the engagement footage.
I called immediately.
"What's wrong?"
Jordan sounded shaken.
"Remember Vanessa's friend Brianna?"
"Yes."
"She was standing beside the fountain before your mother arrived."
I frowned.
"So?"
"She was talking to Vanessa."
"What did they say?"
Jordan hesitated.
"The camera microphone picked up part of it."
My pulse quickened.
"Jordan."
He took a breath.
"Vanessa said she needed your mother to leave the party."
I stared ahead.
Then he continued.
"And Brianna asked whether the plan would still work if you saw everything."
My blood ran cold.
May you like
Because suddenly, I understood that the humiliation might not have been an impulsive act.
It might have been part of a plan.
