Chapter 11 - THE TWENTY MILLION DOLLARS
Vanessa Reed had disappeared with twenty million dollars.
And the electronic authorization for the transfer carried my husband's name.
When Rachel told me, I felt something inside me go strangely quiet.
For years, I'd believed Vincent's greatest mistake was choosing business over our marriage.
Now I wondered whether he'd lost control of the very empire he'd sacrificed everything to build.
"Where did the money come from?" I asked.
"A merger escrow account," Rachel explained. "The amount matched the proposed insurance coverage, but no insurance payment was ever made."
I stared at her.
"So Vanessa stole company money?"
"That's what the investigators suspect."
"And Vincent authorized it?"
"His credentials were used. They're still determining whether he approved anything personally."
I nodded.
I no longer wanted to jump to conclusions.
I'd spent too many years accepting someone else's version of the truth.
This time, I wanted evidence.
Three days later, investigators located Vanessa at a private residence outside Milwaukee.
She was preparing to leave the country.
Her passport was hidden inside a suitcase.
Several bank cards were registered under false names.
And a laptop contained copies of the documents used to transfer the money.
Vanessa was arrested.
When Detective Bell informed me, I sat down and cried.
Not because everything was finished.
Because for the first time since the accident, I felt that the people responsible might actually be held accountable.
Then came the news that shattered Vanessa's carefully constructed lies.
Investigators recovered messages between her and Anthony.
One described the attempted merger.
Another discussed my ownership rights.
But the most disturbing exchange concerned the accident.
Anthony had written:
The transfer must be completed before Claire changes her mind.
Vanessa replied:
The driver understands. She won't make the meeting.
Then Anthony sent one final message.
Make certain there are no witnesses who can connect this to us.
I felt sick.
They had treated my life as an administrative problem.
A deadline.
An obstacle to remove.
Rachel placed a hand over mine.
"Claire, there's another document."
I looked up.
"What?"
"A draft agreement concerning Vanessa's future position in the company."
My stomach tightened.
Rachel opened it.
The agreement named Vanessa as the proposed chief operating officer after the merger.
But the final page contained a separate personal arrangement.
It was a letter Vanessa had prepared for Vincent.
A letter announcing that she was pregnant with his child.
I stared at the screen.
"Was she?"
Rachel shook her head.
"Investigators haven't found evidence that she was pregnant."
I swallowed.
Then Rachel opened an attachment.
It contained a fabricated pregnancy report using Vanessa's name.
The laboratory identification number, however, belonged to someone else.
Me.
Claire Bennett Moretti.
And suddenly I understood.
Vanessa had planned to take everything.
My inheritance.
My marriage.
My place in Vincent's life.
Even the pregnancy I'd never known I had.
But her greatest deception was still waiting to be uncovered.
Because the original file contained a note naming the person who had supplied my medical information.
May you like
Eleanor Bennett.
My stepmother.
