Chapter 4
Vanessa entered the cabin alone.
Her wedding dress had been replaced with a simple white robe provided by the crew. Without the diamonds and carefully arranged hair, she looked younger than I remembered.
She also looked frightened.
"Can I speak to my sister?"
Marcus remained standing.
"You can speak in front of us."
Vanessa looked at me.
"Please, Nia. I need you to understand."
I felt anger rising in my chest.
"Understand what? That you watched our mother push me into the ocean?"
"I didn't know she would do that!"
"But you knew she was planning something."
Vanessa's eyes filled with tears.
"I knew she wanted Marcus to sign some papers. I didn't know about the money."
Daniel quietly placed the document on the table.
"Then explain the four million dollars listed beside your name."
Vanessa stared at it.
Her silence lasted too long.
"Mom told me it was an investment," she finally said. "She said the money belonged to a trust my grandfather had created for the family."
"Which trust?" Marcus asked.
"I don't know."
"You accepted four million dollars without knowing where it came from?"
"I trusted her!"
I almost laughed.
Vanessa had spent years telling me that I was naive, irresponsible, and too emotional to understand money.
Now she wanted everyone to believe she had blindly accepted millions of dollars because our mother had asked her to.
"What did you do with it?" I asked.
Vanessa wiped her face.
"Some went into my wedding expenses. Some went toward a property investment. Mom said the rest needed to remain in a company account until the transfer was completed."
Marcus's expression darkened.
"What transfer?"
She shook her head.
"I swear I don't know."
Daniel interrupted.
"Did you sign any documents?"
Vanessa hesitated.
"Yes."
"What kind?"
"An authorization allowing Calvin to manage the investment account."
"Calvin from Northbridge Consulting?"
She looked up sharply.
"How do you know his name?"
"Your sister recognized the company address."
Vanessa's shoulders sagged.
For the first time, she seemed to understand that her private decisions were connected to something much larger.
"I thought he was legitimate," she whispered.
Marcus placed the handwritten note in front of her.
"Then explain this."
Vanessa read the words.
If Marcus refuses to sign, use the daughter.
Her face went pale.
"I didn't write that."
"Nobody said you did."
She looked at me, desperate.
"Maybe Mom meant me. Maybe she wanted me to persuade Marcus."
I stared at her.
"You knew she was pressuring him?"
Vanessa nodded.
"She said the company was supposed to be hers. She said Grandpa promised her control, but your father changed everything before he died."
Marcus shook his head.
"My father left the company to me because he believed I would protect it. He never promised Diane ownership."
"That's what you think," Vanessa replied.
She reached into the pocket of her robe and pulled out a small envelope.
"Mom gave me this before the ceremony. She told me not to open it unless something went wrong."
Daniel asked her to place it on the table.
Inside was a letter and a photograph.
The photograph showed Marcus's late father standing beside Diane and another man outside a bank.
I recognized the third man from the charity event.
Calvin.
The letter contained only a few lines, but they changed everything.
It claimed that Marcus's father had secretly agreed to transfer a portion of the company's assets to Diane before his death.
The letter was dated three weeks before he died.
Marcus stared at the signature.
"That's not my father's handwriting."
Daniel examined it carefully.
"It may be a reproduction."
Vanessa began crying harder.
"Mom said if Marcus refused to sign, the letter would prove he was hiding the truth. She said it would ruin his reputation and force him to settle."
"Settle what?" I asked.
"She wanted him to transfer the company shares. She said he owed her."
Marcus took a slow breath.
"Did she tell you to bring this letter to the wedding?"
Vanessa nodded.
"She said you would be emotional after seeing me get married. She thought you might finally agree to end the dispute."
I looked at her wedding ring.
"Was the wedding part of the plan?"
Vanessa's expression collapsed.
"Not all of it."
The words hung between us.
"Tell me everything," I said.
She stared at the floor.
"Mom told me that after the wedding, Marcus would sign the documents. She promised the money would make me independent. She said you would never be able to interfere again."
I felt sick.
My mother had turned my sister's wedding into a financial trap.
But there was something else.
"Why did she push me?"
Vanessa looked at me through tears.
"Because you saw the folder."
I remembered the moment before the fall. Diane had been reaching toward Marcus's jacket, trying to take something from him.
I had stepped between them.
She had whispered, "You always ruin everything."
Then she shoved me.
Vanessa lowered her head.
"She thought you would tell Marcus what you saw. She wanted you gone before he opened the documents."
I couldn't speak.
My mother had treated my life as an obstacle to a business deal.
Marcus called the security chief and asked him to locate Calvin.
Daniel warned that nobody should confront him without preserving the evidence.
But before anyone could act, Vanessa's phone vibrated.
A message appeared from an unknown number.
The words were brief.
You have until midnight to return the original agreement. Otherwise, your sister pays for your mistake.
May you like
Vanessa stared at the screen.
Then she began screaming.
