Chapter 10 - Vanessa’s Version
Vanessa asked to speak with me privately.
Maya arranged for us to meet in her office that afternoon.
Daniel’s attorney objected.
Nobody cared.
Vanessa arrived without makeup and without the polished confidence she had worn at the airport.
She placed her phone on the table.
“I know you hate me.”
“I do not know you well enough to hate you.”
“That is worse.”
“No.”
“What is worse is that you knew he was married.”
She looked down.
“I knew.”
The admission was painful, but it was not surprising.
“He said the marriage was over.”
“He said you stayed together because of the children and the house.”
“He showed me draft divorce papers.”
“Did they have my signature?”
“Yes.”
Another forged document.
“He told me you were refusing to announce the separation until after Sophie’s birthday.”
“That was six months ago.”
“Then he said after Owen’s exams.”
“Then after the hospital gala.”
“There was always another reason.”
“Yet you stayed.”
Vanessa closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he made me believe I was the first person who truly understood him.”
Daniel had once said the same thing to me.
“He told me you were cold.”
“He said you cared more about your company than your marriage.”
“He said you did not want the children.”
I almost laughed at the cruelty of it.
“I rearranged my entire career to raise them.”
“I know that now.”
Vanessa opened her phone.
“There are four years of messages.”
“Four?”
“The emotional relationship started before the physical one.”
Daniel had lied even when confessing the length of the affair.
“He contacted me after a fundraising dinner.”
“At first, it was professional.”
“Then he began complaining about you.”
“Eight months ago, we crossed the line.”
She pushed the phone toward Maya.
“I will provide everything.”
“Why?” Maya asked.
Vanessa’s expression changed.
“Because this morning Daniel told the hospital that I created the reimbursement scheme.”
“He said I manipulated him.”
“He told his attorney I was obsessed with him.”
“He is going to claim I forged the documents.”
Daniel had used Vanessa until she became inconvenient.
Now he was turning her into the villain.
“Did you submit false expenses?”
“Yes.”
Her honesty surprised me.
“Daniel told me the foundation chair had authorized them.”
“Richard?”
She nodded.
“Richard said the hospital owed Daniel for years of unpaid appearances and donor events.”
“He told me to categorize personal travel as development costs.”
“Did you know that was wrong?”
“I knew it was irregular.”
“That is not what I asked.”
Vanessa’s eyes filled with shame.
“Yes.”
“I knew.”
Maya took notes.
“Did Richard know the Paris trip included his family?”
“He planned part of it.”
The room went quiet.
“He selected the hotel.”
“He booked a private dinner.”
“He said the trip would help the children accept me before Daniel filed for divorce.”
I leaned back in my chair.
Richard had not merely tolerated the affair.
He had managed the transition.
“Did Lauren know?”
“She helped me buy clothes for Sophie.”
I remembered Lauren’s words at the airport.
You were never supposed to be here.
“What was supposed to happen after Paris?”
Vanessa hesitated.
“Daniel planned to tell you he wanted a divorce.”
“Then Richard would present the settlement.”
“If you refused, they were going to say you had become emotionally unstable.”
Maya stopped writing.
“On what basis?”
“Daniel had been documenting conversations with you.”
My skin turned cold.
“What conversations?”
“Arguments.”
“Times you cried.”
“Times you complained about his schedule.”
“He said he could use his medical position to suggest you were having a breakdown.”
Daniel had not only planned to leave me.
He had been preparing to discredit me.
Vanessa reached into her bag and removed a small digital recorder.
“He asked me to keep this in case you confronted us in Paris.”
“What is on it?”
“A conversation between Daniel and Richard.”
“What conversation?”
Vanessa pressed play.
Daniel’s voice filled the room.
Once she signs the house over, she can be as angry as she wants.
Then Richard answered.
May you like
She will sign.
She still believes you love her.
