Chapter 12 - Vanessa’s PleaA month into my new role as CEO, I received a hand-written letter forwarded from the county jail. The handwriting was messy, erratic, written on cheap lined notebook paper.
Claire,
They aren't giving us proper food here. The lawyer Dad hired with his hidden offshore money turned out to be a fraud who took seventy grand and stopped answering calls. Dad’s health is failing. He had an angina attack last night.
I know you hate me. I know I took credit for your software. But I was just doing what Dad told me to do! He always said one of us had to be the face of the company, and you were too quiet, too shy! I was protecting the family image!
Please, Claire. Talk to Adrian. He has billions. A two-million-dollar bail is nothing to him. Just post our bail so we can prepare our defense from home. I’ll give you anything. I’ll sign a waiver giving up my share of Grandma’s trust. Just get me out of here.
Your sister, Vanessa
I sat at my wide mahogany desk in the top-floor executive suite, reading the letter twice.
May you like
There was no remorse in her words. No apology for the years of emotional abuse, no acknowledgment of the public humiliation they had planned for my wedding day. Even in a jumpsuit, Vanessa still viewed herself as the victim, still believed that my role in life was to sacrifice myself to maintain her comfort.
I folded the paper neatly, opened the bottom drawer of my desk, and dropped it into the shredder. The blades whirred for three seconds, reducing her desperate words to fine white dust.
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