Chapter 4
Patricia's words changed the atmosphere in the ballroom.
Until that moment, Vanessa had been able to portray herself as an innocent woman caught in a misunderstanding.
Now she looked like someone who had forgotten that other people could speak.
Marcus stared at Patricia.
“You worked for our investment company?”
“Not directly,” she explained. “I worked for an outside financial services firm that handled some administrative requests. Your mother was one of the firm's clients.”
“And Vanessa paid you to access her records?”
Patricia hesitated.
“She contacted me about obtaining information concerning the family properties. Initially, she claimed Mrs. Evelyn had authorized the request.”
Vanessa shook her head violently.
“That's a lie!”
Patricia opened her folder.
“I have messages showing that you asked me to find out which properties were owned outright and which had outstanding loans.”
Marcus turned toward his wife.
“Why would you need to know that?”
Vanessa's jaw tightened.
“Because somebody had to understand the family's finances!”
“Your mother is capable of managing her own affairs,” Daniel said.
Vanessa ignored him.
“Marcus, you know how much pressure we've been under. You know how expensive everything is.”
My son looked bewildered.
“What does that have to do with my mother's property?”
She didn't answer.
Patricia continued.
“Mrs. Carter also asked whether certain assets could be transferred into a trust without requiring the original owner to attend a meeting in person.”
Marcus closed his eyes briefly.
I could see his mind working through every conversation he had ever had with his wife.
Every time she had asked him about my house.
Every time she had suggested that I was becoming forgetful.
Every time she had insisted that my financial affairs were too complicated for me to manage alone.
He opened his eyes.
“Did you intend to take Mom's properties?”
Vanessa's expression hardened.
“I intended to protect our family.”
“From what?”
“From living paycheck to paycheck while your mother sits on a fortune!”
The words rang through the ballroom.
Marcus stepped away from her.
“I have never asked my mother for her money.”
“Because you don't have to! She gives you everything!”
“I earn my own living.”
“And what happens when we want children? What happens when we need a bigger house? What happens when our friends are buying vacation homes and we're still struggling?”
I stared at her.
“Is that what this is about? Keeping up with your friends?”
She turned on me.
“You wouldn't understand.”
“Try me.”
“You have no idea what it's like to marry into a wealthy family and still be treated like an outsider!”
For the first time that evening, I heard something beneath her anger.
Resentment.
Not merely resentment toward me, but resentment toward the life she believed she deserved.
I understood then that my money had become a symbol of everything she thought she lacked.
But understanding her feelings did not excuse her actions.
“You were welcomed into my home,” I told her. “I gave you a place at my table. I trusted you with my son. What more did you believe you were owed?”
“A future!”
“You were building one with Marcus.”
“Not the future I wanted!”
My son stared at her as though he had never seen her before.
Patricia quietly placed another sheet on the table.
“There is one more matter.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What is it?”
“The request to create the trust was followed by an inquiry about selling one of Mrs. Evelyn's properties.”
My heart tightened.
“Which property?”
Patricia looked at me.
“The lake house.”
I gripped the edge of the table.
My late husband, James, and I had purchased that house when Marcus was twelve. We had spent every summer there, fishing from the dock and watching thunderstorms roll across the water.
After James died, it became the place where I went when grief threatened to swallow me.
It was more than a building.
It was the last place where I could still hear my husband's laughter in my memory.
Marcus knew what it meant to me.
“You wanted to sell Mom's lake house?” he asked.
Vanessa looked away.
“I was exploring options.”
“Without her permission?”
“I didn't sign anything!”
“That's not what I asked.”
She began crying.
For a moment, I wondered whether she was finally ashamed.
Then she said, “If you had supported me, I wouldn't have needed to do any of this.”
Marcus looked at her in disbelief.
“You're blaming me?”
“You let your mother control everything!”
“I let my mother keep what she worked for!”
The room fell silent again.
Daniel gathered the documents.
“We have enough information to refer the suspicious transactions to the appropriate authorities. Any question of criminal responsibility will be determined through the proper process.”
Vanessa wiped her face.
“You can't prove I took anything.”
“No one has made a final determination,” Daniel replied. “But we will continue examining the evidence.”
I thought the worst had been revealed.
Then Patricia reached into her folder and removed a printed email.
“There is another person involved,” she said.
Vanessa stopped crying.
Patricia placed the email in front of Marcus.
“The message says the money from the proposed sale was supposed to be used to settle a private debt.”
Marcus read the name at the bottom.
His face went white.
“Who is Derek Whitmore?”
May you like
Vanessa closed her eyes.
And I knew the next secret would be even harder to hear.
