Chapter 8 - My Sister-in-Law Begged Me to Delete the Video
By Friday evening, Vanessa's video had been viewed more than four million times.
She thought she had started a movement against me.
Instead, she had accidentally created the biggest public relations disaster in Caldwell family history.
Because there was one detail she'd forgotten.
The internet had already seen her throw my wedding album into the mud.
I was sitting in Jonathan's office when Natalie sent me a screenshot.
It showed two videos side by side.
On the left, Vanessa was laughing while Beatrice ordered me off the property.
On the right, Vanessa was crying about how I'd supposedly betrayed her family.
Above the comparison, someone had written:
SHE WAS A GOLD DIGGER WHEN THEY THOUGHT SHE WAS BROKE. NOW SHE'S A MONSTER BECAUSE SHE'S RICH. MAKE IT MAKE SENSE.
I stared at the image.
Then another message arrived.
A woman had posted a clip of Beatrice saying, "You were a nurse when he found you, and you can go back to being one."
Underneath, a hospital worker had written:
Being a nurse isn't an insult.
The video spread rapidly.
Nurses began sharing stories about wealthy patients whose families treated medical staff as disposable.
Widows wrote about being excluded from family decisions after losing their spouses.
Others questioned why Beatrice had hosted a champagne celebration so soon after her son's funeral.
For the first time, Vanessa's carefully edited version of events was being challenged by her own original footage.
I didn't feel triumphant.
I felt exhausted.
"Do I need to respond?" I asked Jonathan.
He shook his head.
"Not immediately. Our priority is the financial review and your safety."
My phone rang.
Vanessa.
I declined.
She called again.
Then again.
Finally, a text appeared.
PICK UP. THIS IS SERIOUS.
I stared at it.
Then another message arrived.
PLEASE, ELISE. MOM IS LOSING HER MIND.
I showed Jonathan.
He looked unimpressed.
"That may be the first accurate statement she's made this week."
Despite everything, I laughed.
At six that evening, an unfamiliar car pulled into the parking garage beneath Jonathan's building.
Vanessa stepped out wearing oversized sunglasses.
She looked nothing like the confident woman who had filmed my humiliation.
Her makeup was uneven.
Her hair was tied into a careless ponytail.
She carried a designer handbag but had forgotten to remove a security tag from a new scarf hanging over its strap.
The receptionist called upstairs.
"Mrs. Caldwell, your sister-in-law is here."
I almost corrected her.
Vanessa wasn't my sister by blood.
But Terrence had called her his baby sister until the day he died.
For his sake, I agreed to see her.
Jonathan remained in the adjoining office.
Vanessa entered without greeting me.
"Take it down."
I looked up.
"Hello to you too."
"The video. Make them take it down."
"Which video?"
She threw her phone onto the desk.
The screen showed the original recording from the driveway.
Someone had reposted it with subtitles and slowed down the moment Beatrice kicked our wedding album.
"People are being horrible to me!"
I looked at her.
"Are they threatening you?"
She hesitated.
"Some are."
"Then report those messages. Nobody should threaten you."
She blinked.
Apparently, she'd expected me to celebrate her distress.
I didn't.
But I also wasn't going to pretend she was innocent.
"Elise, I've lost nearly eighty thousand followers!"
I waited.
"Two brands canceled their sponsorships."
Still I said nothing.
"And Mom says the video is affecting the company."
I folded my hands.
"Vanessa, you recorded it."
"That was before I knew!"
"Before you knew what?"
She stared at me.
"That you had money!"
The words hung between us.
I leaned back.
"So throwing a grieving woman into the rain was acceptable when you believed she was poor?"
Vanessa opened her mouth.
Then closed it.
"That's not what I meant."
"It's exactly what you meant."
Her eyes filled with tears.
"Please. I just want this to stop."
I looked at the screen.
In the frozen frame, I was kneeling in the mud with my wedding album.
"You could have stopped it that day."
Vanessa looked away.
"You could have put your phone down. You could have helped me pick up my clothes. You could have told your mother that Terrence deserved better."
She wiped her eyes.
"But you chose to laugh."
For several moments, neither of us spoke.
Then Vanessa lowered her voice.
"How much did he really leave you?"
I almost smiled.
"Does that matter?"
"Five hundred million?"
I nodded.
She whispered something unpleasant.
Then she looked up sharply.
"Mom says you manipulated him."
"Your mother can believe whatever helps her sleep."
"She says the money was supposed to stay with us."
"Terrence was part of 'us,' Vanessa. He was a person, not a family account."
Her face tightened.
"You don't understand. Mom promised me that once everything was settled, I'd finally have access to my business fund."
"What business fund?"
Vanessa hesitated.
"The investment money Richard arranged."
I felt my pulse change.
"Richard arranged money for you?"
She nodded.
"For my lifestyle brand. We were supposed to launch next month."
"How much?"
"Three million dollars."
I kept my face neutral.
"Where was it coming from?"
She shrugged.
"Some advisory account."
"Evergreen?"
Vanessa's eyes widened.
"How do you know about Evergreen?"
I reached for my phone.
"Vanessa, I need you to answer very carefully. Did Richard tell you that money belonged to the company?"
She looked frightened.
"He said it was a legitimate arrangement."
"What arrangement?"
"He said the family deserved compensation for everything we'd contributed over the years."
I stared at her.
"You didn't contribute three million dollars to Caldwell Holdings."
Her expression hardened.
"You don't know what I've sacrificed."
I thought about my husband.
His chemotherapy.
The nights he couldn't sleep.
The way he'd apologized to nurses for needing help getting out of bed.
"No," I said quietly. "I suppose I don't."
Vanessa stood abruptly.
"This was a mistake."
I didn't stop her.
She reached the door, then turned.
"Mom isn't going to let you keep the mansion."
I looked at her.
"Vanessa, do you know who owns it?"
She frowned.
"Obviously, Mom."
"No."
"What?"
I opened a document on my tablet.
"The property is held through the Caldwell Legacy Trust."
She stared.
"And I'm the successor trustee."
Vanessa blinked several times.
"You're joking."
"I'm not."
Her face turned pale.
"Mom's going to kill me."
I said nothing.
She grabbed her handbag and hurried out.
An hour later, Jonathan entered my office.
"I heard most of that."
"She admitted knowing Evergreen."
"Yes."
"Can we use it?"
"We'll document what she said and determine whether she will cooperate formally."
I looked at the door.
"I think she's scared."
"She should be concerned if she participated in improper transactions."
"But she's also Beatrice's daughter."
Jonathan sat opposite me.
"Terrence knew that. It's part of why he delayed confronting the family."
I looked down.
"He kept trying to save them."
"Yes."
"And they kept taking."
Jonathan didn't answer.
He didn't need to.
At eight thirty, Vanessa called again.
This time, I answered.
Her voice sounded different.
Small.
"Elise?"
"What is it?"
"Can we talk somewhere Mom doesn't know about?"
I glanced at Jonathan.
"About what?"
She hesitated.
Then she whispered, "I found something in Richard's office."
My pulse quickened.
"What?"
"An envelope with Terrence's name on it."
"What's inside?"
"I don't know. It's sealed."
"Where are you?"
There was a sudden noise on her end.
A door opening.
Vanessa inhaled sharply.
"Someone's coming."
"Vanessa?"
Her voice dropped to almost nothing.
"Elise, Richard told Mom you found out about Evergreen."
Then the call disconnected.
I stared at the screen.
A message arrived seconds later.
It contained only a photograph.
A sealed white envelope.
May you like
Across the front, in Terrence's handwriting, were four words.
IF SOMETHING HAPPENS TO ME.
