Chapter 7 - VANESSA'S PERFECT LITTLE LIE|
Vanessa called me the following afternoon.
I nearly declined, but curiosity won.
“Evelyn,” she said, her voice smooth and carefully controlled. “I think we should meet.”
“Why?”
“Because there are things Nathaniel hasn't told you.”
I looked at the documents spread across my kitchen table.
“That's a long list.”
She ignored the remark.
“I'm at the Larkspur Café. Come alone.”
“I don't take instructions from you.”
“Then come because you deserve to know the truth.”
I agreed to meet her, but Arthur arranged for an investigator to remain nearby.
Vanessa was already seated when I arrived. Her emerald dress had been replaced by a cream coat, and her hand rested over her stomach.
She looked less triumphant without an audience.
“I didn't expect you to come,” she said.
“Neither did I.”
She studied me.
“You really don't know, do you?”
“Know what?”
“Nathaniel didn't marry you because he fell in love with you.”
The words were not surprising. They still hurt.
“Then why did he?”
“Your grandfather's trust. Your family name. He knew there was a connection between Samuel Whitmore and the company. He believed marrying you would give him access to whatever remained.”
I sat very still.
“Who told you that?”
“His father.”
“Edward is dead.”
“Not everyone who knows the truth is dead.”
Vanessa took a sip of water.
She explained that Nathaniel had begun asking questions about me before our wedding. He had instructed a private investigator to research my family, but the investigation found only a modest household and an old man who had died years earlier.
“Did Nathaniel know I was the beneficiary?”
“I don't think he knew for certain. He believed you might be connected to a dormant trust.”
“Why did he marry me if he wasn't sure?”
“Because he thought he could make you trust him. He wanted you to sign a set of financial documents after the wedding.”
My stomach tightened.
“What documents?”
“A marital property agreement. A power of attorney. Something that would have allowed him to manage any inheritance you received.”
I remembered the papers Nathaniel had placed in front of me during our first year of marriage.
He had called them routine documents.
I had signed some.
Not all.
“Why are you telling me this?” I asked.
Vanessa looked down.
“Because I thought I was going to marry him. He promised me he would leave you quietly once the company was secure.”
“And now?”
“Now he's telling me I should stay away from him until the baby is born.”
I looked at her hand.
“Is the baby his?”
Her expression changed.
May you like
For a moment, the confidence disappeared.
Then she said, “That's what I need you to help me find out.”
