Chapter 3 - VANESSA'S PERFECT MARRIAGE
Vanessa did not cry immediately.
That would have been easier.
Instead, she stared at our mother with the frozen expression of someone whose brain had refused to process what her eyes were seeing.
“Say something.”
Mom looked around the terrace.
“This is not the place.”
Vanessa laughed.
It sounded broken.
“You laughed when you called Audrey stupid in this place.”
Her voice rose.
“You were fine with public humiliation five minutes ago.”
“Vanessa—”
“Why do you have an account with Daniel?”
Daniel reached for her.
She slapped his hand away.
“Don’t touch me.”
My father stood.
“Everybody calm down.”
Vanessa rounded on him.
“Did you know?”
“I don’t know what’s happening.”
“That wasn’t my question!”
Guests were staring openly now.
A waiter moved toward us, but Claire quietly shook her head.
He disappeared.
Daniel looked at me.
“This is what you wanted, isn’t it?”
“No.”
I meant it.
I wanted answers.
Watching my sister discover that her perfect life might be built on fraud was not satisfying.
It was horrifying.
Daniel turned toward Vanessa.
“The account is business.”
“With my mother?”
“Yes.”
“What business?”
He hesitated.
Vanessa slapped him.
The sound cracked across the terrace.
Mom gasped.
Daniel’s face hardened.
For half a second, I saw something in him I had never noticed before.
Contempt.
Not for me.
For Vanessa.
Then it vanished beneath the polished corporate mask.
He lowered his voice.
“We had an investment opportunity.”
Mom interrupted.
“That’s all.”
I looked at her.
“An investment opportunity involving confidential acquisition data?”
“No.”
“Then explain the timing.”
Mom pressed her lips together.
I continued.
“The first deposit into that account was made six days after StyleHub announced exploratory talks with Seaside Springs.”
Dad stared at her.
“Margaret?”
She finally looked at him.
“I was trying to protect us.”
“From what?”
She looked at me.
And suddenly I understood.
Not everything.
But enough.
“You knew I owned StyleHub.”
Silence.
Vanessa turned toward me.
Dad whispered, “What?”
I stepped closer to Mom.
“You knew.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“I found out three years ago.”
Something cold moved through my chest.
Three years.
Three years of jokes.
Three years of pretending.
Three years of listening while Vanessa called me lazy, unmotivated, embarrassing.
And Mom had known.
“You let them humiliate me.”
“I didn’t know how to tell everyone.”
“You didn’t have to tell them.”
My voice remained calm.
“You could have stopped laughing.”
Mom looked down.
That hurt more than I expected.
Dad stared at her.
“How did you find out?”
She wiped her eyes.
“I saw a document.”
“What document?”
“An investor letter.”
“Where?”
Mom hesitated.
Then looked toward Daniel.
Vanessa followed her gaze.
“No.”
Daniel said, “Vanessa—”
“No.”
Her voice was barely audible.
“You told her.”
He didn’t deny it.
My sister stepped backward as if he had struck her.
“How did you know?”
Daniel clenched his jaw.
I answered.
“He handled financing for one of StyleHub’s lenders five years ago.”
Claire nodded.
“His confidentiality agreement prohibited disclosure.”
Vanessa looked sick.
“So my husband knew Audrey was rich.”
I hated the way she said rich.
As if the betrayal mattered only because of money.
“He knew I controlled the company.”
“And he told Mom.”
Daniel snapped, “Because your mother had information we needed.”
I froze.
“We?”
He realized his mistake immediately.
Claire looked at me.
I looked at Mom.
“What information?”
Nobody answered.
Dad suddenly sat down.
His face was gray.
“Margaret.”
Mom began crying.
Not gracefully.
Not quietly.
She covered her mouth.
“I was scared.”
“Of what?” I demanded.
She looked at me.
“Of losing everything.”
My father whispered, “What did you do?”
Mom shook her head.
Then Vanessa noticed something.
A name printed on the bottom of one transfer sheet.
She picked it up.
“Harbor Crest Capital.”
Daniel tried to take it.
Vanessa pulled away.
“I know that name.”
Claire’s expression sharpened.
“From where?”
Vanessa stared at Daniel.
“That’s the company trying to buy your division.”
He said nothing.
She looked at me.
“He told me a foreign investment group was making an offer.”
Claire inhaled sharply.
I understood instantly.
Harbor Crest wasn’t trying to buy Daniel’s division.
It had been trying to buy mine.
For months.
And suddenly the sabotage made sense.
Someone wanted Bennett Holdings to overpay, run out of liquidity, and become vulnerable.
But the account still didn’t explain why my mother was involved.
Then Dad whispered something.
So quietly I almost missed it.
“Jesus Christ.”
I turned.
“What?”
He looked at Mom.
“You mortgaged the house.”
Vanessa stopped breathing.
Mom closed her eyes.
Dad stood.
“You mortgaged our house without telling me?”
“It wasn’t enough.”
“For what?”
Mom looked at Daniel.
And Daniel looked toward the ocean.
Dad shouted.
“For what, Margaret?”
May you like
She finally answered.
“To invest in Harbor Crest.”
