Chapter 6 - Vanessa's Last Lie
Vanessa Monroe arrived in Seattle two days later.
She did not come voluntarily.
Her attorney arranged a meeting after federal investigators began asking questions about Victor.
I almost refused to attend.
Then Lena said something that changed my mind.
“You are allowed to hear the truth without giving the person who tells it forgiveness.”
So I went.
Vanessa looked different without the world she used as armor.
No couture dress.
No diamonds.
No photographer-ready makeup.
She wore black slacks and a cream sweater.
She looked tired.
Human.
I hated that.
It was easier to despise beautiful villains.
She sat across from me.
Ethan was not present.
That had been my condition.
For almost a minute we simply stared at each other.
Then Vanessa said, “I'm sorry about your father.”
“Don't.”
She stopped.
“You don't get to use him to make this conversation softer.”
Her face tightened.
“Okay.”
“Did you know he was dying?”
“Yes.”
The answer hurt even though I expected it.
“How much did you know?”
“That he had cancer. That Ethan was paying bills. That you spent most days at the hospital.”
“And you still took him to Miami.”
“I didn't take Ethan anywhere.”
“No. You just arranged the trip.”
Vanessa looked away.
“Yes.”
“For Victor?”
“Partly.”
“What was the other part?”
Her eyes returned to mine.
“I wanted your husband.”
There it was.
Ugly.
Clean.
No excuse.
“Why?”
Vanessa almost laughed.
“Because I had wanted him since I was seventeen.”
“He married me.”
“I know.”
“Apparently that detail failed to discourage you.”
“It should have.”
“Yes.”
Vanessa's fingers tightened together.
“When Ethan and I were young, everyone assumed we'd marry. Then my father's companies collapsed. My family left Chicago. Ethan stopped calling.”
“And eventually married someone else.”
“Yes.”
“You.”
“Obviously.”
She almost smiled.
I did not.
“When Victor contacted me last year, he said Ethan was unhappy.”
“You believed him?”
“I wanted to.”
“What did Victor want?”
“Access.”
“To Ethan?”
“To information. Business schedules. Decisions. Who Ethan planned to remove.”
“And you gave it to him.”
“At first I told myself it wasn't dangerous.”
“People tell themselves impressive things.”
Vanessa nodded.
“Victor promised to help restore some of my family's properties.”
“For betraying Ethan.”
“Yes.”
“Did Ethan know you were having financial trouble?”
“No.”
“Why not ask him?”
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“Pride.”
“That's expensive.”
“Yes.”
I thought of Ethan.
Pride had nearly cost him everything too.
“What happened in Miami?”
Vanessa closed her eyes.
“Exactly what Ethan probably told you.”
“I want your version.”
She explained the dinners.
The drinks.
The calls.
My calls.
“He saw your name every time?”
“Yes.”
My throat tightened.
“Did you tell him not to answer?”
“No.”
That almost disappointed me.
I wanted one piece of his failure to belong to somebody else.
Vanessa continued.
“I said once, ‘She'll be there tomorrow.’”
My eyes burned.
“My father wasn't.”
Her face broke.
“I know.”
“No, you know now.”
“Yes.”
“What about the kiss?”
“He kissed me back.”
I held her gaze.
“I know.”
“I want to be honest.”
“Try it. Apparently it's fashionable lately.”
She accepted the insult.
“He stopped it.”
“How heroic.”
“No.”
Vanessa swallowed.
“He should never have let it happen.”
“Correct.”
“Afterward he told me he loved you.”
That hurt unexpectedly.
“Then he has a strange definition.”
“He said he had become angry at you for making him feel guilty every time he looked at you.”
I frowned.
“Guilty about what?”
“Everything.”
Vanessa leaned back.
“Your father. Missing appointments. Being gone. The business. He said every time you asked him to come home, he heard criticism even when you were simply asking him to come home.”
That sounded like Ethan.
The more ashamed he felt, the colder he became.
Not because I had done something wrong.
Because my existence reminded him he had.
“That doesn't excuse him.”
“I know.”
“Stop saying that.”
She almost smiled sadly.
“Fine.”
I leaned forward.
“Why did you post the photograph?”
Vanessa's eyes lowered.
“Because I was angry.”
“At who?”
“Ethan.”
“For stopping the kiss?”
“Yes.”
I stared.
“You posted a photograph of my husband holding you because he refused to continue cheating?”
“When you say it that way—”
“There is no other way to say it.”
“No.”
Vanessa's eyes filled.
“I wanted you to see.”
The cruelty of it silenced me.
She had not accidentally hurt me.
She had wanted me hurt.
“You knew I would.”
“Yes.”
“Did you know I was at the hospital?”
“Yes.”
My fingers went numb.
“You knew?”
“Victor told me Joseph had been admitted again.”
“And you posted it anyway.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Her answer came quietly.
“Because if you left Ethan, I thought he might choose me.”
For several seconds I couldn't speak.
Then I stood.
Vanessa looked up.
“You wanted my marriage.”
“Yes.”
“So you could have the man.”
“I thought so.”
“And now?”
Her eyes filled.
“Now I think I wanted proof that losing him when I was young hadn't meant I was forgettable.”
I stared at her.
“What a waste.”
She flinched.
“Claire—”
“You nearly destroyed three lives because you wanted reassurance from something that happened fifteen years ago.”
“I know.”
I walked toward the door.
Then stopped.
“One more question.”
Vanessa looked up.
“Did Victor have anything to do with Dad's death?”
“No.”
“You're sure?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Because he was furious when Joseph died.”
That surprised me.
“Why?”
“He hadn't gotten the drive.”
Victor needed Dad alive.
For once, that mattered.
“He wanted to pressure Joseph into giving up the documents,” Vanessa continued. “He never intended to kill him.”
“Threats can kill sick men too.”
“I know.”
I almost told her to stop.
I didn't.
Vanessa reached into her purse.
“I have something.”
She slid a phone across the table.
“Messages with Victor.”
“Why give them to me?”
“Because he told me if I stayed quiet, he'd protect me.”
“And?”
“He lied.”
I almost laughed.
“Apparently powerful men do that.”
Vanessa looked at me.
“Yes.”
I left the room.
Outside, Ethan was waiting in the lobby.
Not because I had asked.
Because investigators were interviewing him separately.
Our eyes met.
He did not approach.
That was new.
I walked toward him.
“What did she say?”
“That she wanted me to see the photo.”
Pain crossed his face.
“I didn't know.”
“You still posed for it.”
“Yes.”
“She said you told her you loved me.”
He said nothing.
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
“At the beach?”
“Yes.”
“After kissing her.”
His jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
I shook my head.
“You know what was wrong with our marriage?”
“What?”
“You kept treating feelings as though they excused behavior.”
Ethan looked at me.
“You thought loving me meant the rest somehow mattered less.”
“Yes.”
“It didn't.”
“I know.”
I almost rolled my eyes.
Then something unexpected happened.
Ethan smiled faintly.
“What?”
“You were about to tell me not to say that.”
Despite myself, I laughed.
One small laugh.
His expression changed.
He missed hearing it.
I saw that.
I immediately hated that I cared.
“Don't read anything into that.”
“I won't.”
“Good.”
His phone rang.
Leo.
Ethan answered.
His face changed.
“What?”
He listened.
Then looked at me.
“What happened?”
He lowered the phone.
“Victor knows Vanessa gave investigators her messages.”
“And?”
“He disappeared.”
My stomach tightened.
“Where?”
“We don't know.”
Lena came toward us quickly.
“Claire, we need to move.”
“Why?”
She showed me her phone.
A photograph had been sent to Ethan.
Dad's house in Chicago.
The front door stood open.
Below it was one sentence.
May you like
JOSEPH LEFT SOMETHING ELSE.
COME HOME AND FIND IT BEFORE I DO.
