Chapter 4
I watched the newly discovered footage twelve times.
Each time, I felt colder.
The camera had been positioned near a flower arrangement beside the fountain.
Vanessa and Brianna stood close together, unaware that Jordan's equipment was recording.
Their voices were partially covered by music.
But several sentences were clear.
Brianna asked, "What if Nick sees?"
Vanessa replied, "Then I'll make him choose."
Brianna laughed nervously.
"Between you and his mother?"
Vanessa glanced toward the ballroom entrance.
"He'll choose me."
I stopped the video.
For several seconds, I couldn't breathe.
She had planned to force a confrontation.
She had believed I would sacrifice my mother's dignity to protect our engagement.
What frightened me most wasn't that she'd been wrong.
It was how confidently she'd expected me to betray the woman who raised me.
Olivia watched the recording beside me.
"This doesn't establish that she planned the push itself," she said. "But it suggests the confrontation wasn't accidental."
I nodded.
"She wanted my mother humiliated."
"We need to understand the full context."
I looked at the frozen image.
Vanessa was smiling.
That smile had once made me feel lucky.
Now it made my stomach turn.
Later that afternoon, I went to see my mother.
She was sitting at her kitchen table, sorting photographs.
When she saw me, she quickly turned one face down.
"What are you looking at?"
"Nothing important, sweetheart."
I pulled out a chair.
"Mom."
She sighed.
Then she handed me the photograph.
It showed Vanessa standing beside me at Christmas.
My mother was in the background, holding a tray of cookies.
Someone had cut her face out of the printed picture.
I stared at it.
"What happened?"
Mom looked embarrassed.
"Vanessa said the photograph looked better without me."
My chest tightened.
"When?"
"Last Christmas."
I remembered that day.
Vanessa had insisted on taking professional-looking photographs for social media.
She'd spent hours arranging the decorations.
She'd complained when Mom arrived wearing a red sweater instead of the beige outfit Vanessa suggested.
I'd laughed it off.
I thought she was being particular.
Now I understood she had been erasing my mother from our lives one small piece at a time.
"Why did you keep this?"
Mom touched the edge of the photograph.
"Because you looked happy."
I stared at her.
My mother had kept a photograph where her own face had been removed because she wanted to remember my smile.
I covered my eyes.
"Mom, I'm so sorry."
She reached across the table.
"Nick, you don't owe me an apology."
"Yes, I do."
I looked at her.
"I should have defended you long before that party."
Her eyes filled with tears.
"You were in love."
"That doesn't excuse what I allowed."
She was quiet.
Then she whispered, "I didn't want you to lose someone you loved because of me."
I took her hands.
"Mom, anyone who requires me to abandon you doesn't love me the way I deserve."
She began crying.
I moved beside her and hugged her tightly.
For the first time in months, we spoke honestly.
She told me Vanessa had asked her to stop visiting unannounced.
Vanessa had also suggested I was embarrassed by Mom's old job.
Once, Vanessa told her that wealthy families needed to maintain appearances.
My mother had smiled politely and gone home.
She never complained.
I asked why.
She answered with a sentence I would never forget.
"Because mothers sometimes become afraid of losing their children when those children grow up."
I held her tighter.
"You will never lose me."
She nodded against my shoulder.
"I know that now."
That evening, Jordan came over.
He brought copies of the engagement footage and a list of people who had witnessed the incident.
He also looked unusually serious.
"Nick, there's something about Vanessa you need to know."
I sighed.
"At this point, nothing would surprise me."
Jordan shook his head.
"I think this might."
He opened his laptop.
A wedding website appeared.
The page featured Vanessa smiling beside a man I'd never seen.
The photograph was dated four years earlier.
I frowned.
"Who is that?"
"His name is Adrian Cole."
I stared at the screen.
"Why is Vanessa in a wedding photograph with him?"
Jordan took a breath.
"Because they were engaged."
I leaned back.
"She told me she'd never been engaged before."
"She lied."
I stared at the photograph.
Vanessa wore a beautiful ivory dress.
Adrian stood beside her in a black suit.
They looked happy.
But something about the page felt familiar.
The venue.
The floral arrangements.
The expensive photography.
Even the fountain in the background.
I leaned closer.
"That looks like the same ballroom."
Jordan nodded.
"It is."
I felt a chill.
Vanessa had insisted on using that venue for our engagement party.
She said she'd dreamed of celebrating there since childhood.
But she'd already held an engagement party there with another man.
I looked at Jordan.
"What happened to him?"
His expression darkened.
"I found a lawsuit."
I swallowed.
"Against Vanessa?"
"Against Vanessa and Patricia."
He opened another page.
According to the public filing, Adrian had accused them of misusing funds connected to their wedding plans and a shared investment.
The case had ended in a confidential settlement.
I stared at the screen.
"How much did he lose?"
Jordan hesitated.
"The lawsuit mentioned more than three hundred thousand dollars."
I felt sick.
The similarities were impossible to ignore.
A wealthy fiancé.
An extravagant wedding.
Financial accounts.
Vanessa's mother.
Then a collapsed relationship.
I looked at Jordan.
"Did you contact Adrian?"
He nodded.
"I sent him a message."
"Did he answer?"
Jordan slowly turned the laptop toward me.
A new message appeared.
I know exactly who Vanessa Monroe is. Tell Nick not to sign another document.
I swallowed.
Then I read the next sentence.
And whatever he does, he must not let Patricia anywhere near his mother.
My heart began pounding.
I called Adrian immediately.
He answered after several rings.
"Nick Carter?"
"Yes."
He sighed.
"I was afraid you'd call."
I looked at Jordan.
"Why?"
Adrian's voice became quiet.
"Because Vanessa doesn't choose men randomly."
I gripped the phone.
"What does that mean?"
He hesitated.
"She studies their families. Their businesses. Their weaknesses."
My stomach tightened.
May you like
Then he said something that changed the way I understood my entire relationship.
"Nick, I think your engagement was arranged long before you ever met her."
