Chapter 13 - The Cut Strap
Elena did not believe her immediately.
“Who?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
Vanessa looked exhausted.
“But the strap was cut.”
At the gala, she had gone upstairs because the prosthetic shifted beneath her dress.
In the blue room, she discovered one securing strap had been sliced nearly through.
She removed the prosthetic to replace it with another.
Lily wandered in looking for her rabbit.
That part matched Lily’s story.
Vanessa said:
“I hid the damaged one under the bench because I heard someone in the hall.”
“Who?”
“I thought it was Marcello.”
Elena asked:
“Why would anyone sabotage the fake belly?”
Vanessa gave a tired laugh.
“Because I wasn’t the only person making money from Bell River.”
Vanessa’s father was obvious.
But she named someone else.
“No.”
“Daniel drafted the first Bell River side agreement.”
Elena’s stomach tightened.
Daniel had been helping Marcello investigate everything.
“He told you to keep the pregnancy going?”
“He told me the trust proxy was the only legal way to close the merger fast.”
“That doesn’t mean he knew the pregnancy was false.”
“He knew.”
“Proof?”
“In the case Lily found.”
Investigators had already copied the case.
Elena requested a search of the legal documents.
Buried inside a draft advisory agreement was a fee provision.
Daniel Price would receive a success payment if Bell River completed the acquisitions.
Marcello read it in silence.
His office said he had left an hour earlier.
Security footage showed him carrying two boxes to the parking garage.
Marcello felt betrayed all over again.
Then the estate manager called.
“Mr. DeLuca, you need to see the ballroom camera.”
Footage from the gala showed Daniel standing near the staircase thirty minutes before Lily’s announcement.
Vanessa climbed past him.
Daniel glanced around.
Then followed her upstairs.
May you like
Three minutes later, he came down alone.
Holding a small pair of silver scissors.
