CHAPTER 3 — Vanessa’s First Lie
CHAPTER 3 — Vanessa’s First Lie
Alexander ordered the security team to seal the mansion.
No staff member was permitted to leave.
Vanessa followed him into his private study and slammed the door.
“You are humiliating me over a maid.”
Alexander placed Eleanor’s photograph on the desk.
“Tell me why you reacted to her name.”
“I was surprised.”
“You were afraid.”
Vanessa folded her arms.
“I never met Eleanor Bennett.”
“That is your first lie.”
Her eyes narrowed.
Alexander opened a locked drawer and removed an old envelope.
Inside was a photograph taken at a charity gala eight years earlier.
Alexander stood beside Eleanor.
Several feet behind them, Vanessa watched with unmistakable hatred.
“You were there,” he said.
“I attended hundreds of galas.”
“You told me you had never seen her.”
“I didn’t remember.”
“You remembered the moment Clara said her name.”
Vanessa looked away.
Alexander’s voice dropped.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
He walked closer.
“My sons fear you.”
“They are children.”
“They hide behind the maid when you enter a room.”
“They are spoiled.”
“They flinch when you raise your voice.”
Vanessa’s face hardened.
“You were never here, Alexander. You traveled. You worked. You built your precious empire while I raised them.”
“No. The staff raised them.”
“I am their mother.”
“Then why did Noah call Clara Mommy?”
Vanessa slapped him.
The sound cracked through the study.
Alexander did not move.
Vanessa stared at her own hand as if surprised by what she had done.
Then Alexander said quietly, “You have one chance to tell me the truth.”
She backed toward the door.
“You want the truth? Fine. Eleanor was unstable. She threatened us. She wanted money. She wanted to destroy our family.”
“Our family did not exist when Eleanor disappeared.”
Vanessa froze.
Alexander continued.
“I married you six months after I was told she died.”
Vanessa’s eyes shifted.
A tiny movement.
But it was enough.
Alexander suddenly understood.
“You knew she was alive when you married me.”
Vanessa reached for the door.
He caught her wrist.
“Where was she?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who told me she died?”
Vanessa said nothing.
Alexander released her.
Then his phone rang.
It was the head of security.
“Mr. Whitmore,” the man said, “we found something in the maid’s room.”
“What?”
“A letter addressed to you.”
Alexander looked at Clara through the glass wall of the study.
She appeared just as shocked as he was.
May you like
The security chief lowered his voice.
“Sir, it was written by Eleanor Bennett.”
