Chapter 6 - THE LOCKED GATE
Vanessa made it down the stairs before Adrian caught up.
She grabbed her handbag from the entry table and headed for the front door.
"Stop."
"Get away from me."
"You are not leaving with anything until security checks your bag."
She spun around.
"You think I'm stealing from you?"
"I think I don't know you."
That landed.
Vanessa stared at him as if he had struck her.
Outside, the estate gate remained closed. Adrian had already texted Marcus, the head of security.
Two guards entered through the side hall.
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
"This is humiliating."
Clara came downstairs holding Lily's hand.
"Humiliation is being seven years old and slapped for loving your dead mother," Clara said.
Vanessa's gaze sharpened.
"You have wanted me gone since the day you met me."
"I wanted Lily safe. There is a difference."
Marcus asked Vanessa to place her bag on the table.
She refused until Adrian said, "Then I call the police and tell them you tried to file a false accusation against an employee after assaulting my daughter."
Her jaw clenched.
She dropped the bag.
Inside were cosmetics, keys, a wallet, two phones, and a folded document.
Adrian picked it up.
It was a draft petition for temporary educational guardianship over Lily.
Vanessa's name appeared as proposed guardian.
Clara felt cold.
"What is that?"
Adrian read the first paragraph twice.
The petition claimed he traveled too often, Lily suffered emotional instability, and Vanessa had become the child's primary caregiver.
None of it was true.
"You were planning to take legal control of her schooling?"
Vanessa folded her arms.
"You are gone half the month. Someone has to make decisions."
"Clara makes more of Lily's daily decisions than you do."
"Exactly. A maid should not be raising your daughter."
Lily's fingers tightened around Clara's.
Adrian saw it.
He also saw a handwritten note clipped to the petition.
BOARDING OPTIONS - OUT OF STATE.
His face hardened.
"You planned to send her away."
Vanessa said nothing.
Marcus lifted the second phone.
"Mr. Cole, this one is locked, but there are notifications on the screen."
A message had just arrived.
FROM: D. WEXLER, ESQ.
May you like
It read:
DID YOU GET THE KEY FROM THE BEAR?
