Chapter 7
I didn't want to feel sympathy for Vanessa Coleman.
Not after the way she'd treated me.
Not after watching her help her father threaten everything I'd built.
But the photograph of her as a little girl wouldn't leave my mind.
She had been smiling.
Holding a stuffed rabbit.
Standing beside a man who had apparently spent decades lying to her.
I knew what it felt like to grow up with a painful story about a parent.
The difference was that my father had been innocent.
And Vanessa had been taught to believe her mother was guilty.
Angela watched me carefully.
“You need to understand something about Edwin.”
“What?”
“He doesn't love people the way ordinary fathers do.”
I looked up.
“He loves control.”
Angela nodded.
“Exactly.”
She told me Vanessa's mother was named Patricia Coleman.
Patricia had once been a nurse.
She came from a working-class family.
When she married Edwin, she believed he was an ambitious businessman with a generous heart.
Then she found bank statements showing money disappearing from employee retirement accounts.
She confronted him.
Edwin threatened her.
When she refused to remain silent, he used his wealth and legal connections to isolate her.
“He convinced Vanessa that Patricia had abandoned her,” Angela said.
“How?”
“Forged letters. False medical reports. Stories about another man.”
I shook my head.
“And Patricia?”
“She spent years trying to contact her daughter.”
“Why didn't Vanessa listen?”
“Because Edwin controlled everything.”
I thought about the woman beside the pool.
Her designer dress.
Her expensive handbag.
Her desperate need to remind everyone of her family's importance.
Maybe that arrogance had been taught.
Maybe it was the only way she knew how to feel secure.
But understanding someone's pain didn't excuse their cruelty.
I remembered the towels hitting the lounge chair.
The words people like you.
The contempt in her voice.
Vanessa still had choices.
And she would have to answer for them.
“Where is Patricia now?” I asked.
Angela gave Rachel an address.
“She lives in North Carolina under her maiden name.”
I took a breath.
“Does Vanessa know?”
“No.”
I looked at Malik.
“We need to bring Vanessa in.”
Rachel immediately raised her hand.
“Carefully. No threats. No promises we can't keep.”
I nodded.
She was right.
We needed Vanessa to choose the truth.
Not simply switch sides because someone frightened her.
By evening, investigators had traced Edwin's private vessels.
One yacht had left the marina.
Another remained docked.
Thermal imaging and port records suggested several people were aboard.
But we still didn't know whether my mother was among them.
I sat in the federal office while specialists coordinated the search.
Every minute felt unbearable.
Then my phone rang.
Vanessa.
I stared at her name.
Rachel nodded.
“Answer.”
I put the call on speaker.
“Hello, Vanessa.”
Her voice sounded different.
Quiet.
Unsteady.
“My father says you're trying to destroy us.”
“Your father has done a good job of destroying himself.”
“Stop.”
I waited.
She took a trembling breath.
“He says you kidnapped someone.”
My jaw tightened.
“Who?”
“Claire's son.”
“That isn't true.”
“He says you're trying to blame him.”
“Vanessa, where are you?”
A pause.
“At the resort.”
“Are you alone?”
“Yes.”
I glanced at Rachel.
She nodded.
“Come to the private conference room,” I said.
“Why?”
“Because there's something you deserve to know.”
“About what?”
“Your mother.”
Silence.
Then Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“My mother abandoned me.”
“No, Vanessa.”
Her breathing changed.
“What?”
“She didn't.”
For several seconds, I heard nothing.
Then she whispered:
“Don't you dare lie about my mother.”
“I'm not.”
“You don't know anything about her.”
“I know she's alive.”
The call went silent.
I thought she'd disconnected.
Then I heard her crying.
Very softly.
“That's impossible.”
“I can prove it.”
“Where is she?”
“Safe.”
Vanessa inhaled sharply.
“I'm coming.”
Twenty minutes later, she entered the conference room.
She wasn't wearing sunglasses.
Her hair was pulled back.
The confidence she'd displayed at the pool had vanished.
She looked exhausted.
Almost frightened.
I stood when she entered.
She stopped.
“Don't pretend we're friends.”
“We aren't.”
“Good.”
“But that doesn't mean I want you hurt.”
Her eyes flickered.
I placed Patricia's photograph on the table.
Vanessa stared.
Her face changed.
“Where did you get that?”
“From someone who knew your mother.”
She reached for the picture.
Her fingers trembled.
“I remember this day.”
I waited.
“She bought me that rabbit.”
A tear fell onto the photograph.
“I thought I'd lost it.”
I pulled out another picture.
Patricia as she looked now.
Vanessa covered her mouth.
“No.”
“She's been searching for you.”
“No.”
“Your father kept you apart.”
She shook her head violently.
“My father said she left us.”
“I know.”
“He said she didn't want me.”
“Vanessa—”
“Stop!”
Her voice cracked.
“You don't get to come into my life and tell me everything I've believed is a lie!”
I remained quiet.
She stared at the photographs.
Then she whispered:
“Why would he do that?”
I answered gently.
“Because your mother knew what he did to mine.”
Vanessa looked up.
“What?”
I told her about my father.
The stolen money.
The forged contracts.
Angela's disappearance.
And Edwin's current attempt to take my resort.
At first, she denied everything.
Then she became quiet.
Finally, she sat down.
“My father told me your family stole from him.”
I nodded.
“I assumed he would.”
She looked ashamed.
“That's why I treated you that way.”
I held her gaze.
“No. You treated me that way because you thought I was an employee.”
Her face reddened.
I continued.
“You didn't know who I was. And you decided that made me beneath you.”
She lowered her eyes.
I let the silence remain.
Then she whispered:
“You're right.”
It wasn't enough to fix anything.
But it was the first honest thing I'd heard from her.
Her phone suddenly rang.
Daddy.
She stared at the screen.
I looked at Rachel.
Rachel nodded.
“Answer normally,” she said.
Vanessa answered.
“Hi, Daddy.”
Edwin's voice came through.
“Sweetheart, where are you?”
“At the resort.”
“Good. I need you to do something.”
Vanessa looked at me.
“What?”
“Go into Marcus Bennett's executive office.”
Her face tightened.
“Why?”
“There is a black folder in his desk.”
My eyes moved toward Rachel.
Edwin continued.
“Bring it to me.”
Vanessa swallowed.
“What's inside?”
“Nothing you need to understand.”
She looked down at her mother's photograph.
Then she asked a question that changed everything.
“Daddy, is my mother really dead to you?”
Silence.
Edwin's voice turned cold.
“Who have you been talking to?”
Vanessa began shaking.
“Nobody.”
“Vanessa.”
She closed her eyes.
“Daddy, I just want to know the truth.”
His next words made her start crying.
“You ungrateful little girl. Everything you have belongs to me.”
Vanessa covered her mouth.
Edwin continued.
“And if you betray me, you'll lose it all.”
The call ended.
Vanessa sat perfectly still.
Then she looked at me.
“I want to see my mother.”
I nodded.
“We can arrange that safely.”
She wiped her face.
“And Marcus?”
“Yes?”
“I think I know where your mother is.”
I felt my heart stop.
“Tell me.”
Vanessa looked toward the door.
“My father has a private beach house.”
She swallowed.
“He told me never to enter the basement.”
May you like
Then she whispered:
“But last night, I heard a woman crying through the floor.”
