Chapter 4 - WHAT VANESSA WANTED
We reached Adrian's office less than a minute later.
Vanessa was standing in front of the open wall safe.
A stack of documents lay on the floor.
She froze when she saw us.
Adrian stared at the safe.
“How did you know the code?”
Vanessa's face changed.
“I guessed.”
“You guessed eight digits?”
“Adrian—”
“What are you taking?”
He pushed past Dad's security guard and grabbed the papers from her hand.
Vanessa fought to hold on.
“Give me that!”
Dad's guard separated them.
A small flash drive fell onto the carpet.
I picked it up.
Vanessa lunged toward me.
“Don't touch that!”
That was enough to make everyone stop.
I looked at the drive.
Black plastic.
No label.
Adrian frowned.
“What is it?”
Vanessa said nothing.
I held it tighter.
Dad looked toward Daniel.
“Laptop.”
The attorney took one from his bag.
Vanessa shook her head.
“You can't go through Adrian's private files.”
Adrian stared at her.
“You were just going through them.”
“I was protecting you.”
“From what?”
Silence.
Daniel inserted the drive.
Several folders appeared.
VALE CAPITAL.
BOARD.
TRANSFER SCHEDULE.
PERSONAL.
Adrian stepped closer.
“What the hell?”
Daniel opened TRANSFER SCHEDULE.
A spreadsheet filled the screen.
Payments.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Some legitimate.
Others routed through companies I'd never heard of.
Redwood Consulting.
VC Management.
Northline Strategies.
I pointed.
“What's that?”
Adrian looked genuinely confused.
“I don't know.”
Vanessa said, “They're vendors.”
Daniel scrolled.
“Redwood Consulting received $840,000 over fourteen months.”
Dad asked, “What service did it provide?”
Vanessa crossed her arms.
“Consulting.”
“On what?”
She said nothing.
Daniel typed something into his phone.
Thirty seconds later, he looked up.
“Redwood Consulting is registered to a post office box in Delaware.”
Adrian's face hardened.
“Who owns it?”
Daniel turned the laptop.
The registered manager was V. Cole Holdings LLC.
Vanessa.
Adrian stepped back.
“No.”
Vanessa's voice cracked.
“I can explain.”
“You stole from me?”
“I didn't steal anything.”
“Eight hundred forty thousand dollars?”
“I was moving money for tax reasons.”
“Who told you to?”
“You did.”
Adrian laughed.
“I absolutely did not.”
She pointed toward me.
“This is her fault! None of this would have happened if she hadn't called her father!”
I stared at her.
“You were stealing long before tonight.”
Vanessa's expression sharpened.
“You don't know anything.”
Dad leaned against the desk.
“Then enlighten us.”
She glared at him.
“This company was going under anyway.”
Adrian froze.
“What?”
Vanessa immediately realized she'd said too much.
But the damage was done.
Daniel opened another folder.
Inside were email screenshots.
Vanessa to an unknown address.
A.V. thinks the quarter will recover.
Need him to sign guarantees before Claire realizes.
Another email.
Once wife is out, inheritance angle becomes easier.
I read the sentence twice.
“What inheritance?”
No one spoke.
Then Daniel opened the folder marked PERSONAL.
There were medical records inside.
Vanessa's medical records.
I looked at the date.
Two weeks ago.
Then at one line.
Pregnancy test: Negative.
Adrian's face went completely blank.
Vanessa took a step backward.
He looked at her stomach.
“You're not pregnant.”
She said nothing.
“Vanessa.”
His voice shook.
“You're not pregnant?”
Her silence answered him.
Then the police sirens began outside.
May you like
And Vanessa smiled at Adrian.
“You think that's the worst thing I've lied about?”
