Chapter 4 - The Secret Vanessa Was Willing to Kill For
For the first time since seeing Andrew alive, I wondered whether I should have hit him harder.
“My signature?”
Andrew rubbed a hand over his face.
“It wasn’t your signature.”
“That isn’t what Vanessa said.”
“It was your electronic authorization.”
“Which means?”
“Someone used your credentials.”
“Who?”
“We never proved it.”
“And you decided not to mention that?”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
I stepped closer.
“You. Vanessa. Our father. Everyone apparently spent six years protecting me while destroying my life.”
Andrew said nothing.
“What transfer?”
“Twenty-eight million dollars.”
My stomach dropped.
“To where?”
“A Cayman account connected to one of Victor’s companies.”
“And it was approved from my login?”
“Yes.”
“Why wasn’t it discovered?”
“Victor buried it inside a series of legitimate acquisitions.”
I tried to think back six years.
We had been expanding aggressively.
Hotels.
Commercial real estate.
Construction firms.
I signed dozens of financial approvals every week.
“Could I have authorized it accidentally?”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because the approval happened while you were giving a speech in New York.”
I remembered the trip.
“Then whoever used my credentials knew my schedule.”
“Yes.”
“Someone inside the company.”
“Yes.”
“And Vanessa knows this.”
“She had access to Victor’s records.”
I turned toward the window.
“Why would Maria know anything?”
Andrew’s expression tightened.
“Because Maria once worked for Vanessa.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“Before she worked for you.”
I felt as though the floor had disappeared.
“Maria never told me.”
“She couldn’t.”
“Why?”
“She was cleaning offices for a private financial firm where Vanessa occasionally met Victor.”
“How did you meet Maria?”
Andrew looked uncomfortable.
“She saw something.”
“What?”
“Vanessa handing Victor a flash drive.”
“And?”
“Maria thought it was suspicious. Later she found documents Victor had thrown away.”
“She gave them to you?”
“Eventually.”
“So you and Maria…”
“We met because of the investigation.”
I thought of Noah.
“And then?”
Andrew looked down.
“We fell in love.”
It was strange hearing my supposedly dead brother describe an entire hidden life.
“How long?”
“About a year before Noah was born.”
“You were hiding and somehow started a family?”
“It wasn’t planned.”
“Did she know who you were?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you come home when Noah was born?”
“I wanted to.”
“But?”
“I received another photograph.”
“Of whom?”
“You.”
My anger weakened.
Andrew reached inside his jacket and removed a folded envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
Me.
Walking into Whitmore Holdings.
A red circle had been drawn around my head.
On the back:
One brother is already dead. Keep it that way.
I stared at it.
“How long have you carried this?”
“Six years.”
I returned it.
“Victor?”
“I assumed.”
“But you don’t know.”
“No.”
My phone buzzed.
A security alert.
Motion detected at my Beverly Hills home.
I opened the feed.
Several cameras were offline.
One still worked.
The hallway.
A figure crossed the frame.
Vanessa.
She was back.
“What is she doing?” Andrew asked.
“I don’t know.”
Then I remembered.
Maria’s words.
She found something she wasn’t supposed to find.
“What could Maria have found in the house?”
Andrew’s eyes widened.
“The ledger.”
“What?”
“I didn’t put it there.”
“Then what are you saying?”
“Maria may have.”
“Why?”
“Because I gave it to her.”
“When?”
“Two weeks ago.”
I stared at him.
“You gave the most dangerous evidence in this entire situation to the woman cleaning my house?”
“She was supposed to hide it temporarily.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
I was already heading for the door.
Andrew grabbed my arm.
“You’re not going alone.”
We drove back toward Beverly Hills.
Marcus joined us after ensuring Noah and Mrs. Alvarez were safely on their way to Riverside.
During the drive, I called the police detective who had responded earlier.
No answer.
I left a message.
When we reached my property, the front gate stood open.
The security guard was missing.
Marcus checked the booth.
“Coffee is still warm.”
“Call police.”
“Already did.”
I entered through the side door.
The mansion was silent.
The broken mirror remained in the hallway.
Most of the glass had not yet been cleaned.
The blood stains were still there.
Seeing the scene again made my stomach turn.
“Vanessa?”
No answer.
Andrew moved beside me.
“You have a safe?”
“In the study.”
We checked it.
Closed.
Untouched.
“My office?”
Nothing.
Then I heard movement upstairs.
A drawer.
Then another.
Vanessa was searching.
We climbed quietly.
The master bedroom door stood open.
Vanessa was pulling clothing from a cabinet.
“Looking for something?”
She spun around.
Then saw Andrew.
Every trace of color vanished from her face.
For several seconds, no one spoke.
Andrew broke the silence.
“Hello, Vanessa.”
She whispered his name.
“You’re really here.”
“You look disappointed.”
Vanessa looked at me.
“Daniel, he’s dangerous.”
“So are you.”
“I never meant to hurt Maria.”
“She has fractured fingers.”
“She attacked me after she realized what I was looking for.”
“What were you looking for?”
Vanessa’s eyes moved toward Andrew.
“The drive.”
Andrew smiled without humor.
“So Victor still doesn’t have it.”
She said nothing.
That was answer enough.
“Is Victor alive?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
Andrew laughed.
“Still lying.”
Vanessa snapped.
“I haven’t spoken to him in eighteen months.”
“Then why do you want the drive?”
“Because I need it destroyed.”
“Why?”
She looked at me.
“Because my name is on it.”
Silence.
“What did you do?” I asked.
Her eyes filled with tears.
This time they looked real.
“I moved money for Victor.”
“How much?”
“Millions.”
“Knowing it was illegal?”
“Yes.”
I felt sick.
“Why?”
“I was twenty-four when I met him. He offered me work. At first everything seemed legitimate. By the time I realized what he was doing, I was already involved.”
“So you kept helping him.”
“He threatened me.”
“Everyone in this story seems to have been threatened by Victor.”
“Because that’s what he did.”
Andrew stepped closer.
“You also helped him frame Daniel.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“No.”
“You had access to Daniel’s credentials.”
“I never used them.”
“Then who did?”
“I don’t know.”
Andrew laughed bitterly.
“You always know less when the answer matters.”
Vanessa looked at me.
“I came into your life because I thought you had the drive.”
The words hurt despite everything.
“At least you finally admitted it.”
“But I stopped looking months ago.”
“Why?”
“Because I fell in love with you.”
I stared at her.
“You were searching my home while planning our wedding.”
“At first.”
“When did you stop?”
“After you proposed.”
“That’s supposed to make me feel better?”
“No.”
“Maria knew who you were.”
“Yes.”
“And you knew she knew.”
“Yes.”
“So why didn’t you fire her?”
Vanessa looked away.
“Because firing her would have made you suspicious.”
“Tonight she found you searching.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“The hallway console.”
“Why there?”
“I saw her place something behind it.”
Andrew moved toward the ornate console table beside the shattered mirror.
It had been pushed slightly away from the wall.
He reached behind it.
Nothing.
“Not there now,” Vanessa said.
“What happened?”
“She confronted me. She said she was going to tell you everything.”
“And you attacked her.”
“She grabbed me first.”
“Stop.”
My voice came out colder than I expected.
“I watched you drag her body.”
Vanessa’s face crumpled.
“I panicked.”
“You thought she was dead?”
“No.”
“Then why drag her?”
“I was trying to get her away before you saw.”
“Exactly.”
She cried quietly.
“I knew how it looked.”
“How did it look?”
“Like I tried to kill her.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
Andrew crouched beside the console.
He examined a tiny gap in the molding.
Then pulled out a folded piece of paper.
“What’s that?” I asked.
He unfolded it.
Three words were written in Maria’s handwriting.
NOAH KNOWS WHERE.
Andrew swore under his breath.
“Where what?”
“The drive.”
I stared at him.
“You told Maria where to hide it?”
“No. She chose.”
“Then how would Noah know?”
“Maybe she told him.”
Vanessa suddenly moved toward the doorway.
Marcus blocked her.
“Going somewhere?”
“I’m not.”
“Yes, you are.”
Her phone rang.
Everyone looked at it.
Unknown number.
Vanessa stared at the screen.
Andrew’s face hardened.
“Answer it.”
“No.”
“Answer.”
She backed away.
I took the phone.
“Daniel—”
I answered.
A man spoke.
“Vanessa?”
I recognized the voice.
Not from recently.
But from boardrooms.
Christmas parties.
My father’s office.
Victor Lang.
“Who is this?” he asked.
I looked directly at Vanessa.
“Daniel Whitmore.”
Silence.
Then Victor chuckled.
“Well.”
My skin crawled.
“This is overdue.”
“Where are you?”
“Closer than Andrew thinks.”
Andrew stepped toward the phone.
Victor continued.
“If your brother is there, tell him hiding for six years didn’t make him clever.”
Andrew took the phone.
“Leave Noah out of this.”
Victor laughed.
“Then perhaps you shouldn’t hide valuable things with children.”
Andrew went pale.
My stomach dropped.
“You know where Noah is?”
“I know exactly where everyone is.”
I looked at Marcus.
He was already calling Mrs. Alvarez.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
Victor spoke once more.
“Bring me the drive by sunrise.”
“And if we don’t?”
“You already buried Andrew once.”
A pause.
“This time you’ll have a body.”
The call ended.
Marcus looked at us.
“Rosa isn’t answering.”
Andrew ran.
And as we raced toward Riverside, one terrifying truth followed us out of the mansion.
May you like
Victor Lang had found Noah.
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