Chapter 7 - The Real ReasonDaniel stayed on the opposite side of the desk.
Vanessa was between him and the door.
He didn't like that.
Not because he thought she would attack him.
Because three hours earlier he wouldn't have thought she could cut Sophie's hair either.
“What was it about?” he asked.
Vanessa glanced at Megan's letter.
“Put that down.”
“No.”
“Daniel.”
“Tell me why you were outside Sophie's school.”
“I wanted to talk to Megan.”
“At our daughter's school?”
“She wouldn't meet me anywhere else.”
“About what?”
Vanessa crossed her arms.
“You won't believe me.”
“Try.”
For the first time, her expression cracked.
“I was trying to protect myself.”
Daniel almost laughed.
“From Megan?”
“Yes.”
“What had she done?”
“She found out.”
“Found out what?”
Vanessa looked toward the windows.
Daniel waited.
Finally she said:
“Money.”
He frowned.
“What money?”
“Megan and I started a business together in college.”
Daniel knew Megan had briefly sold handmade jewelry online.
He had assumed it was nothing serious.
“We made more than you know,” Vanessa said.
“How much?”
“Eventually? Almost eight hundred thousand dollars.”
Daniel stared.
“That isn't possible.”
“You didn't know half of what Megan did before you.”
“I was married to her for eleven years.”
“And I knew her before you.”
The words were deliberately cruel.
Daniel ignored them.
“What happened to the money?”
Vanessa looked away.
“I took some.”
“How much?”
Silence.
“How much?”
“Enough.”
Daniel felt something click.
“Megan discovered it.”
“Yes.”
“And threatened to report you.”
Vanessa nodded.
“So you destroyed our marriage?”
“That wasn't the plan.”
“What was the plan?”
“To make her look unstable.”
Daniel stared at her.
Vanessa's voice grew colder as she continued.
“Megan kept records. She had emails, old bank transfers. She said she'd give everything to the police.”
“So you started stalking her.”
“I watched her.”
“You slashed her tire?”
Vanessa didn't answer.
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
Daniel's hands curled.
“She could have been hurt.”
“She wasn't driving when I did it.”
“You don't get credit for that.”
Vanessa's jaw tightened.
“I needed time.”
“So you sent me fake evidence of an affair.”
“At first, I only wanted you distracted.”
“Distracted?”
“If Megan was fighting with you, she wouldn't be focused on me.”
Daniel stared at the woman he had slept beside for two years.
“Then you realized breaking us apart could benefit you.”
Vanessa's eyes flickered.
“That came later.”
“And then Megan died.”
Vanessa swallowed.
“Yes.”
“And you disappeared.”
“I panicked.”
Daniel thought of Vee missing the funeral.
“How did you become Vanessa Cole?”
“It was always my legal name.”
“Kate remembers another surname.”
“My mother's name. I used it socially.”
Convenient.
Careful.
Everything about Vanessa suddenly seemed engineered.
“How did you find me again?”
“I already knew where you were.”
Daniel felt a wave of disgust.
“You watched me after Megan died.”
“I checked on you.”
“No.”
He stepped forward.
“You watched.”
Vanessa looked at him without shame.
“You were barely functioning.”
“So you decided to insert yourself.”
“You needed someone.”
“My daughter needed her mother.”
“Megan was dead.”
Daniel slammed his fist against the desk.
“Because you sent her into a storm!”
Vanessa flinched.
“I didn't cause the crash.”
“You told her I wanted to see her.”
“I thought you'd talk.”
“You knew I wouldn't.”
“I thought if she rushed over, maybe she'd leave the evidence behind.”
Daniel froze.
“What evidence?”
Vanessa's eyes moved to the cedar box.
Daniel followed her gaze.
The box didn't contain financial records.
Only photographs, letters, jewelry, and the phone.
“Where is it?”
Vanessa said nothing.
“Where is Megan's evidence?”
“She hid it.”
“You never found it.”
“No.”
Daniel suddenly understood why Vanessa had placed Megan's box in Sophie's closet.
She hadn't been hiding memories.
She had been searching.
“You've been looking for it this whole time.”
Vanessa remained silent.
“That's why you stayed close to Sophie.”
“No.”
“That's why you went through her things.”
“I love Sophie.”
Daniel's face hardened.
“You cut her hair.”
Vanessa looked down.
“For one minute, I lost control.”
“One minute?”
“She looks exactly like Megan.”
There it was.
The jealousy.
The hatred.
Vanessa's voice shook.
“Every morning I walk downstairs and she's there. Same eyes. Same expressions. Same way of looking at me like she knows.”
“She is a child.”
“I know.”
“Then why tell her Megan was bad?”
“Because I wanted her to stop worshipping her.”
Daniel felt physically ill.
His phone buzzed.
A message from Aaron.
The screenshots are fabricated. Metadata shows compositing. Also found something else. Call me.
Daniel looked up.
Vanessa had seen his expression.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Who texted you?”
Daniel put the phone in his pocket.
Vanessa stepped closer.
“Daniel.”
He moved toward the door.
She blocked him.
“What did you find?”
“Move.”
“No.”
“Move.”
For several seconds neither moved.
Then Daniel's phone began ringing.
Aaron.
Vanessa glanced at the screen.
Daniel answered.
“What did you find?”
Aaron didn't waste time.
“One of the fake screenshots contains hidden export data.”
“So?”
“So whoever created it used a laptop that had a registered device name.”
Daniel stared at Vanessa.
“What device name?”
Aaron read it.
Daniel felt every hair on his arms rise.
“MEGAN-MACBOOK.”
Daniel looked at the woman in front of him.
Vanessa's face went white.
The evidence destroying Megan's marriage had been created on Megan's own computer.
May you like
Which meant Vanessa hadn't merely watched her from outside.
At some point, she had been inside their home.
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