Chapter 9 - SARAH'S FATHER
Daniel stared at Sarah.
“Thomas Avery was your father?”
“Yes.”
Sarah had not spoken his name publicly in nineteen years.
Her father had been a real-estate investor in Virginia.
Successful.
Charismatic.
Frequently absent.
When Sarah was sixteen, he married a woman named Natalie.
Natalie was elegant.
Young.
Beautiful.
Six months later, Thomas died in his sleep.
His death was ruled cardiac failure.
Sarah's mother had been gone for years.
Sarah had been sent to live with an aunt.
Natalie disappeared almost immediately after probate.
Daniel's face changed.
“You think Natalie was Vanessa?”
Sarah shook her head.
“I never saw a connection.”
“She had dark hair then.”
“She wore glasses.”
“She was younger.”
“I was sixteen.”
Reed asked, “Do you have photographs?”
Sarah nodded.
“My aunt kept some.”
An hour later, Sarah accessed an old cloud archive.
She found a photograph from Thomas's wedding.
Daniel leaned toward the screen.
The woman beside Thomas Avery was clearly younger.
But the smile was unmistakable.
Vanessa.
Sarah covered her mouth.
For nineteen years, she had carried a vague discomfort about her father's death.
Now it became certainty.
“She knew who I was when Michael hired me.”
Sarah's voice broke.
Daniel looked at her.
“You worked for Michael by coincidence?”
“I thought I did.”
Sarah remembered her interview.
Michael had selected her personally after seeing her résumé.
Vanessa had entered his office that afternoon.
She had smiled at Sarah.
Warmly.
Politely.
As if they had never met.
Sarah whispered, “She recognized me.”
“She knew I was Thomas's daughter.”
Daniel asked, “Why keep you close?”
Sarah stared at Vanessa's photograph.
“To watch me.”
Reed's team reopened Thomas Avery's file.
The estate records contained another surprise.
After Thomas's death, three million dollars disappeared through a trust transfer.
The receiving corporation was later dissolved.
Its registered agent was Richard Hales.
Daniel cursed under his breath.
This had been happening for decades.
Vanessa wasn't merely a woman Richard recruited.
She had been his partner for years.
Maybe longer.
Sarah looked at the date of Thomas's death.
Then Michael's.
Then Vanessa's marriage to Daniel.
A pattern emerged.
Every few years, another wealthy man.
Another death.
Another transfer.
Another new identity.
But something had changed with Daniel.
He wasn't simply wealthy.
He controlled a company with records connecting Richard to all the previous operations.
Vanessa's goal had never been only to inherit.
She needed access.
Marriage gave her that.
Widowhood would have given her control.
Sarah looked at Daniel.
“You were supposed to die after she entered the company.”
Daniel's expression turned cold.
“She already did.”
Everyone looked at him.
Daniel opened his desk drawer.
Three days before the wedding, he had given Vanessa a temporary executive access card so she could surprise him by decorating his office after their honeymoon.
Sarah stared at the card log.
Vanessa had used it the previous night.
At 2:13 a.m.
May you like
She had entered Bennett Development alone.
And she had remained inside for forty-seven minutes.
