Chapter 18 - Vanessa Comes Home
Vanessa entered the estate through the service tunnel beneath the wine cellar.
A tunnel Claire had documented years earlier for fire access.
Victor opened it for her.
But he made one mistake.
He assumed Vincent would protect his brother.
Vincent didn’t.
Security trapped Victor in the west corridor.
Vanessa made it to the nursery.
She found the crib empty.
I watched her through the panic-room monitor.
She looked nothing like the woman from charity photographs.
No makeup. Hair tangled. One sleeve torn.
She stared at the camera.
“Rachel,” she said, “you think you saved him?”
I said nothing.
She continued. “Alexander will lose the company. Rebecca will burn the family. Thomas will trade everyone for a lighter sentence.”
Alexander pressed the intercom button.
“And you?”
Vanessa smiled.
“I leave.”
“With what?”
“The original trust certificate.”
Alexander’s expression changed.
The document she carried could delay control of Claire’s shares for years.
Vanessa opened her coat.
A folded parchment packet was strapped beneath it.
“Open the panic room,” she said, “or I burn it.”
Alexander reached for the door control.
I grabbed his arm.
“Don’t.”
“She can destroy Noah’s claim.”
“No,” I said. “She can destroy paper.”
He looked at me.
I pointed to Claire’s letter on the desk.
“She taught us better than that.”
Alexander slowly released the control.
Vanessa’s smile vanished.
She lit a match.
Then police flooded the hallway behind her.
She turned.
The match fell.
May you like
The trust certificate caught fire.
And Vanessa screamed as officers forced her to the floor.
