Chapter 6 - VANESSA’S VERSION
Vanessa folded her arms tightly.
“I panicked.”
I nearly admired the simplicity of the lie.
Ethan stared at her.
“You panicked for several minutes?”
“She trespassed.”
“You sprayed her before asking her name.”
“I thought she was trying to steal something.”
I lifted my grocery tote.
“From my own bag?”
Vanessa ignored me.
She focused entirely on Ethan.
“My parents have worked their whole lives for everything they have.”
I noticed George glance toward her.
Apparently, even he knew that sentence was dangerous.
Ethan asked, “What does that have to do with my mother?”
“You don’t understand the people who show up when they think someone has money.”
I almost laughed.
Neither did Thomas Avery.
A sound escaped him from several feet away.
Vanessa heard it.
Her cheeks reddened.
She rushed on.
“I was protecting our family.”
“Our family?”
Ethan’s voice sharpened.
“We aren’t married.”
The words hit her.
She stepped closer.
“Don’t do this because of one mistake.”
“One?”
He held up the financial documents.
“What exactly am I supposed to call these?”
“My father’s plans.”
George finally spoke.
“Vanessa.”
She turned.
His warning had come too late.
Ethan noticed.
“So you knew.”
Vanessa’s eyes moved between them.
“I knew there were ideas.”
“What ideas?”
“Philanthropic partnerships.”
“Using my name before I agreed?”
“We were getting ahead of things.”
I watched Ethan’s expression harden.
Vanessa reached for his hand.
He pulled it away.
She whispered, “I love you.”
He stared at her.
“Would you have sprayed my mother if she had arrived in a Bentley?”
Vanessa said nothing.
He asked again.
“Yes or no?”
Patricia interrupted.
“This is cruel.”
I looked at her.
“No.”
Everyone turned toward me.
“What happened to me was cruel.”
I pointed toward Ethan.
“This is accountability.”
Patricia’s face tightened.
“You orchestrated this.”
“I wore inexpensive clothes.”
“That is not an orchestration.”
“You deceived us.”
“Yes.”
I stepped closer.
“And with that tiny deception, I gave your daughter permission to reveal the truth.”
Vanessa suddenly raised her chin.
“You think you’re better than us because you’re richer.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
I looked toward Daniel.
“I think he behaved better than all of us.”
The young server froze.
“So if wealth were my measurement, he would have failed.”
Vanessa had no answer.
Then one of the guests approached Ethan.
It was Rachel Beaumont, a Nashville attorney and longtime friend of his.
She held out her phone.
“You need to see this.”
Ethan looked at the screen.
His expression changed again.
“What is it?”
May you like
Rachel looked toward Vanessa.
“Someone has already posted the video.”
