Chapter 15 - BEFORE WE MET
I met Vanessa at a charity auction.
At least, that was what I believed.
She bumped into me near the bar and spilled sparkling water on my sleeve.
We laughed.
She knew nothing about Walker Supply.
Or so she claimed.
The photographs proved she knew plenty.
She had followed me for a month.
She knew where I worked.
Where my parents lived.
Which charity board Mom served on.
Which gym I used.
Even which coffee shop I stopped at on Fridays.
Dad sat beside me in the car outside the storage facility.
"I am sorry."
I looked at him.
"For what?"
"For thinking I could stop this with documents."
"You were right."
"Too late."
I turned toward him.
"You came to stop the wedding."
"Yes."
"Even before she pushed Mom."
"Yes."
"Why wait?"
He looked exhausted.
"Because you had stopped hearing me."
That hurt because it was true.
He said if he confronted me privately, I would call Vanessa, she would cry, and I would accuse him of sabotage.
He had planned to ask the officiant for five minutes before vows.
Then Mom confronted Vanessa first.
I closed my eyes.
"What did Mom say?"
"She told Vanessa she knew about the forged signature."
"And Vanessa pushed her."
Dad nodded.
The wedding had not exposed Vanessa.
It had accelerated her collapse.
Back at the venue, police arrested her on fraud-related charges tied to the attempted bank transfer and forged documents.
She walked past me in a plain white robe over her wedding dress.
Her hands were cuffed in front.
"Ethan."
I did not answer.
"Ethan, please."
I looked at her.
She was crying.
Maybe the tears were real.
That no longer made them useful.
She said, "I can explain why I watched you before we met."
I almost walked away.
Then she said:
"It wasn't originally you."
I stopped.
"What?"
She looked toward my father.
"It was Charles."
Dad went still.
Vanessa smiled through tears.
"Ask him about my mother."
May you like
For the first time, Dad looked afraid.
And I knew there was still another story beneath the one we had uncovered.
