Chapter 10 - Vanessa’s Version of That NightArthur requested a meeting with Vanessa.
Not at the mansion.
Not privately.
Ava’s office.
Recorded.
Vanessa arrived wearing a cream coat and no visible jewelry except the red bracelet.
Arthur noticed immediately.
She saw him notice.
For the first time, she removed it.
Set it on the table.
“I suppose Ethan remembered.”
Arthur stared.
“You knew he saw you.”
“I suspected.”
“So you were at my house the night Caroline died.”
Vanessa closed her eyes briefly.
“Yes.”
Truth again.
Always only after evidence removed the option to lie.
“What time?”
“Around nine.”
“Why?”
“To talk.”
“About the notebook?”
“Yes.”
Arthur felt his jaw tighten.
“Caroline wrote that you demanded it.”
“I asked for it.”
“She wrote that you said Thomas would fix everything.”
Vanessa looked at him.
“Thomas told me the accounting problem could be corrected quietly.”
“Four point eight million dollars.”
Her face changed slightly.
“You found the full amount.”
“You stole it?”
“No.”
“Don’t waste my time.”
“I didn’t steal all of it.”
Arthur went still.
Not all.
Ava leaned forward.
“How much did you take?”
Vanessa looked at the table.
“Eight hundred thousand.”
Arthur stared.
She continued before he could speak.
“I was twenty-nine. My consulting firm was failing. Thomas showed me how vendor structures worked.”
“You stole from a children’s foundation.”
“I borrowed money.”
Arthur laughed in disbelief.
“You don’t get to rename theft.”
Vanessa’s face hardened.
“I paid some back.”
“Some.”
“Yes.”
“And Thomas?”
“He was moving much more.”
Arthur leaned closer.
“Did Caroline find out?”
“Yes.”
“What happened at the house?”
Vanessa told them.
She went to Caroline intending to persuade her not to report anything until Vanessa could separate herself from Thomas.
Caroline refused.
“She told me she had copies everywhere.”
“The notebook.”
“Yes.”
“The phone.”
“I didn’t know where it was.”
“But you knew it existed.”
“Yes.”
“What did you say to her?”
Vanessa looked at Arthur.
“Things I regret.”
“Specific.”
“I told her you wouldn’t believe her.”
Arthur felt the old wound reopen.
Ethan had remembered correctly.
“Why?”
“Because you didn’t.”
No defense existed.
Arthur absorbed it.
Vanessa continued.
“She hated me for knowing that.”
“She should have.”
“Yes.”
Another answer without argument.
“What happened when you left?”
“Nothing.”
“Caroline followed you?”
“No.”
“You followed her?”
“No.”
“Did Thomas?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who called Daniel Reeves?”
Vanessa frowned.
“Caroline’s brother?”
Arthur watched her carefully.
She appeared genuinely surprised.
“You didn’t know?”
“No.”
“Thomas knew.”
“Then maybe Thomas called.”
Arthur sat back.
“Why did Caroline leave the house?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you tell her someone had the proof?”
“No.”
“Did Thomas?”
“I don’t know.”
Arthur’s voice hardened.
“You keep not knowing whenever someone dies.”
Vanessa flinched.
“Caroline’s death was an accident.”
“Maybe.”
“It was.”
“How can you be so sure?”
She stopped.
Arthur saw it.
A tiny mistake.
“How can you be sure, Vanessa?”
She looked away.
Ava spoke.
“Were you told what happened before police notified Arthur?”
Silence.
Vanessa’s face went pale.
Arthur’s pulse thundered.
“Answer.”
Vanessa whispered:
“Thomas called me.”
“When?”
“Just after midnight.”
Arthur felt cold.
Official notification reached him around one-fifteen.
“How did Thomas know?”
“He said one of his family’s tow trucks had been dispatched.”
Possible.
But ugly.
“What did he tell you?”
“That Caroline crashed.”
“Anything else?”
Vanessa hesitated.
“Vanessa.”
“He said the phone wasn’t in the car.”
Arthur’s hands flattened against the table.
“How would he know that?”
She looked terrified now.
“I asked him the same thing.”
“And?”
“He told me not to ask questions.”
Arthur stood.
“You knew her phone was missing before I did.”
“Yes.”
“And you said nothing.”
“I was afraid.”
He laughed bitterly.
“Everyone keeps being afraid at exactly the moments Caroline needed courage.”
Vanessa’s eyes filled.
“You think I don’t know that?”
Arthur stared at her.
For one strange second, she looked less like a mastermind and more like a coward who had spent years turning fear into control.
Then Ava asked:
“Why marry Arthur?”
Vanessa looked at him.
Arthur wanted the answer and feared it.
“At first?”
She swallowed.
“To stay close to the estate.”
Arthur’s chest tightened.
“At first.”
“Yes.”
“And later?”
Vanessa began crying.
“I loved you.”
He felt almost nothing.
Not because he believed or disbelieved her.
Because both possibilities were awful.
She continued.
“I thought if I could keep the family stable and find Caroline’s remaining evidence before Thomas did, maybe everything could disappear.”
Arthur stared.
“You married me to control the evidence.”
“In the beginning.”
“And my children?”
“I cared about them.”
“You dragged Maya across a rug.”
Vanessa covered her face.
Arthur waited.
Then she whispered:
“I was desperate because she found the key.”
There it was.
Not denial.
Not tantrum.
The truth.
Arthur stood to leave.
Vanessa looked up.
“Thomas is dangerous.”
Arthur stopped.
She leaned forward.
“He won’t let you reopen this.”
“Is that a warning?”
“Yes.”
“Or another attempt to scare me?”
Vanessa shook her head.
Then she said:
“Caroline wasn’t the first person who found out what Thomas was doing.”
Arthur went still.
“Who was?”
Vanessa looked at Ava.
Then back at Arthur.
“His wife.”
Arthur frowned.
“What happened to her?”
May you like
Vanessa’s answer came quietly.
“She disappeared.”
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