Chapter 17 - Vanessa’s Choice

Vanessa looked physically ill when we showed her the succession list.

“I didn’t know.”

Peter believed her.

Daniel did not.

“You expect me to trust you again?”

“No.”

Vanessa looked at him.

“I don’t expect anything from you.”

The wedding was officially canceled.

Vanessa returned the engagement ring.

She sold several properties to repay her debts.

Then she gave federal prosecutors every email, financial record, and message Victor had ever sent her.

Her cooperation exposed six more members of Eleanor’s organization.

But the succession document remained troubling.

Why Vanessa?

Peter explained.

Eleanor believed blood mattered more than loyalty.

Peter was too weak in her eyes.

I had been taken away.

Vanessa became the heir Eleanor could shape from childhood.

“She funded my schools.”

Vanessa whispered.

“She chose my friends.”

“She introduced me to Daniel.”

Daniel froze.

Their relationship had not been accidental.

Eleanor wanted Vanessa inside the Harrington family.

The marriage would have reunited the two families and restored her control over Harrington assets.

The necklace trap served two purposes.

Get me arrested.

And make Vanessa prove she would obey.

Vanessa failed the second test when she eventually confessed.

I looked at her across the table.

“You hurt me.”

“I know.”

“You were willing to let me be arrested.”

“I know.”

“I may forgive you someday.”

She started crying.

“But forgiveness doesn’t erase what you did.”

“I understand.”

For the first time, I believed she did.

Weeks passed.

The federal case expanded.

Victor Hale pleaded guilty in exchange for testimony.

Richard refused.

Eleanor hired twelve attorneys and claimed her recorded confession was manipulated.

Nobody believed her.

The evidence was overwhelming.

Then Peter disappeared.

His apartment was empty.

His phone had been left behind.

No signs of a struggle.

Just one envelope on the kitchen table.

It was addressed to me.

Grace.

I need to finish something our mother started.

Do not follow me.

Inside the envelope was a photograph.

It showed Eleanor as a young woman beside Charles Harrington.

Behind them stood six people.

Five were identified in Samuel’s records.

The sixth face had been scratched out.

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On the back, Peter had written one sentence.

The first Chairman is still alive.