Chapter 12 - Vanessa's Last Secret
Vanessa requested to see me two years after the mansion incident.
I nearly refused.
Then her attorney said she wanted to apologize.
I didn't need her apology.
But I was curious whether I still hated her.
We met in a controlled visitation room.
She looked different.
No expensive dress.
No perfect blonde hair.
Just Vanessa Sloan.
"Claire."
"Vanessa."
She looked at my hands.
"No ring."
"We divorced."
"I know."
"Then why am I here?"
Her eyes filled.
"I hated you before I met you."
I said nothing.
"My father taught me that your family destroyed ours."
"And you believed him."
"Yes."
"Marcus believed something similar."
"I know."
She laughed bitterly.
"That's why he was so easy."
I didn't like hearing that.
Even after everything.
She continued.
"I thought if I could make him love me, he'd give me access."
"Did you love him?"
A long silence.
"Eventually."
That surprised me.
"And that wasn't part of the plan?"
"No."
"What was?"
"Get access. Help Dad recover what he said belonged to us. Leave."
"But you stayed."
"I got jealous."
"Of me?"
"Of Lily."
My entire body tightened.
Vanessa saw it.
"Not like that."
"Explain carefully."
"When Lily was born, Marcus changed. For months he'd talked about leaving you. Then suddenly he was terrified."
"Terrified?"
"Of becoming his father."
I remembered the hospital.
Marcus hadn't visited enough.
He'd been distant.
I had assumed indifference.
Vanessa continued.
"He told me he couldn't abandon his daughter."
"But he tried to throw us out."
"I know."
"That doesn't sound conflicted."
"He was performing."
"For you?"
"For himself."
It didn't excuse anything.
But it explained the strange cruelty.
Sometimes people become cruelest when trying to silence the part of themselves that knows they're wrong.
Vanessa wiped her eyes.
"I added myself to the hospital records."
"I know."
"I never intended to take Lily."
"Then why?"
"Your father built safeguards around everything. We thought if something happened medically and Marcus needed to act for you, I could help him access documents."
"Something happened medically?"
She understood what I was asking.
"No. We did not cause your emergency."
I watched her.
"I swear."
Investigators had reached the same conclusion.
I believed the evidence more than Vanessa.
Still, hearing it mattered.
She leaned forward.
"There's one thing I need you to know."
"What?"
"Your husband didn't know about the forty-eight million."
"Ex-husband."
"Right."
She swallowed.
"He was selfish. He cheated. He gave me access he never should have given me. But he didn't try to steal that money."
"I know."
"He tried to stop my father when he realized what was happening."
That was new.
"When?"
"The night you came home."
My eyes narrowed.
"Before or after he threw me out?"
"After."
Of course.
Vanessa gave a sad smile.
"He realized too late what he'd become."
I stood.
"Most people do."
"Claire?"
I stopped.
"I'm sorry."
I looked at her.
For years, I had imagined what I would say if Vanessa apologized.
Something devastating.
Something unforgettable.
Instead, I said:
"I hope you become someone who never has to say that to another woman again."
Then I left.
Outside, sunlight hit my face.
I realized I didn't hate her.
I didn't forgive her either.
She simply no longer occupied enough space inside me to deserve hatred.
May you like
That was freedom.
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