“Dad Said I’m the Housekeeper’s Daughter”—Then Grandpa Found the Paper That Could Destroy Them All

Erin Cole looked nothing like a woman who had received six million dollars. Her hands shook in the security office.

Vanessa's mother looked at Cesare with exhausted eyes.

"I didn't steal from you."

Cesare sat across from her. "Your company did."

"I don't have a company."

Marta opened her laptop and turned the screen around.

North Harbor Consulting LLC. Manager: Erin Marie Cole.

Erin stared at it.

"That's my signature."

"You signed the formation papers?" Marta asked.

"Ethan brought papers to my apartment last year. Said they were insurance documents. I can't read small print well anymore."

Cesare leaned back.

"Where's the money?"

"I don't know."

"Where's your son?"

She looked down.

Cesare waited.

Finally Erin said, "He called me tonight. He told me to pack a bag and meet him at the old marina on Pier Twelve. He said Vanessa had everything under control."

Marta went still.

"Everything?"

Erin began to cry. "I asked what he'd done. He said, 'What we had to do before Julian grows a spine.'"

Cesare's eyes narrowed.

"Did Vanessa know?"

Erin laughed through tears. "Vanessa knows everything Ethan does. She always has."

The door opened.

Julian walked in with Nate behind him.

Cesare's face hardened. "Who let him down here?"

"I did," Nate said. "He found something."

Julian placed his phone on the desk.

"Vanessa sent me a voice message by mistake. I think she meant to send it to Ethan."

He pressed play.

Vanessa's voice filled the room.

"You idiot, the blue pages were supposed to be burned. If Cesare traces the Harbor transfers before Saturday, we lose the proxy, the board vote, everything. Get the girl’s backpack and destroy whatever she took."

Silence.

Erin covered her mouth.

Cesare looked at Julian.

"Proxy?"

Julian swallowed.

"I signed something for Vanessa last week."

Marta stood so fast her chair rolled backward.

"What did you sign?"