Chapter 4 - VANESSA TALKS
Vanessa was still wearing the hotel coat when she followed Mary into a private conference room.
Ethan was kept outside with security.
Mary stood at the window. Manhattan glittered forty floors below them.
Vanessa sat at the table and wrapped both hands around a bottle of water.
“I know how this looks,” she said.
Vanessa winced. “Okay. Bad sentence.”
“You slept with my fiancé on my wedding day.”
“Yes.”
“You helped him move company money.”
Vanessa’s face went white. “No.”
Mary slid one of the transfer pages across the table.
“I’ve never seen this.”
“Your consulting company received six hundred thousand dollars.”
Vanessa looked up sharply. “My company received a retainer from Ethan for the merger project.”
“There was no merger project.”
“Why were you in that room?” Mary asked.
Vanessa swallowed. “Because I’m selfish. Because I was jealous of you. Because Ethan spent a year telling me your marriage was basically a business arrangement.”
“We weren’t married.”
“He said you were only going through with it because your father demanded it.”
“He told me he was leaving you after the shareholder vote next month.”
“What vote?”
“You don’t know?”
“Know what?”
“Ethan said once he married you, the trust agreement gave him spousal proxy rights if you were incapacitated or unavailable.”
“That isn’t in my trust.”
“He showed me a document.”
“Where?”
“On the drive.”
Mary stepped closer. “What’s on it?”
“I don’t know everything. Financial models. Board presentations. Copies of signatures. A folder called ‘Continuity.’”
“Wait,” she said.
“I took this from Ethan’s pants when he ran after you.”
“He kept saying the drive was insurance.”
“Where’s the locker?”
“I don’t know.”
She looked at the screen and went rigid.
May you like
Mary saw the message preview.
UNKNOWN NUMBER: YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT THE KEY WHERE IT WAS.
