Chapter 10 - THE MILLIONAIRE'S WIFE TELLS THE TRUTH|
Vanessa's testimony began with a simple confession.
"I knew Grant wanted to acquire Rowan's company," she told the attorney coordinating the investigation. "I thought Rowan had agreed to sell it."
The statement was recorded, and her lawyer reviewed every document before she signed it.
Vanessa explained that Grant had presented the acquisition as an opportunity to expand the Holloway investment group. He said Pierce Catering had valuable corporate contracts and that its owner was prepared to transfer control.
When Vanessa questioned why the paperwork required a witness who had not met Rowan in years, Grant told her the process was merely administrative.
She had accepted the explanation because it suited her.
"I didn't ask enough questions," she admitted.
Rowan listened to the account through her attorney, feeling a complicated mixture of anger and sympathy.
Vanessa had helped create the humiliation at the gala.
She had threatened Rowan's employees' wages and treated her livelihood as a joke.
But she had also been deceived by Grant.
Both things could be true.
The investigators examined the photographs Vanessa had taken. They compared them with the disputed ownership filing and requested the original documents through the appropriate legal channels.
Several weeks later, the evidence established that the filing had been prepared using information obtained through an intermediary connected to Meridian. The purported authorization had not been signed by Rowan, and the witness certification was unsupported.
The attempted transfer was formally challenged and invalidated.
Pierce Catering remained under Rowan's control.
She celebrated by buying her staff dinner at a small Italian restaurant near the kitchen.
Luis raised his glass.
"To Rowan. The only boss I know who can defeat a corporate takeover and still worry about whether we ordered enough garlic bread."
Everyone laughed.
Rowan felt tears prick her eyes.
This was what she had fought for.
Not a mansion.
Not a diamond ring.
Not a public victory over Vanessa.
These people had trusted her when she had nothing but a borrowed kitchen and a stubborn belief that she could build something better.
She would never forget it.
Meanwhile, Vanessa and Grant's marriage began to unravel publicly.
Vanessa moved into a separate apartment and retained independent counsel. She did not ask Rowan to forgive her, and Rowan did not offer forgiveness simply to make the story more comfortable.
They were not friends.
But Vanessa had provided evidence, and that mattered.
One afternoon, she asked to meet Rowan at a café.
"I want to apologize," Vanessa said.
"You already have."
"I want you to know why I acted the way I did."
Rowan waited.
"Grant told me you were obsessed with him. He said you had spent years trying to interfere with his marriage."
Rowan almost laughed.
"I haven't spoken to him in eight years."
"I know that now."
"Why did you believe him?"
Vanessa looked down at her hands.
"Because I wanted to believe that he had chosen me for the right reasons."
The admission was unexpectedly honest.
Rowan studied the woman who had pointed at her in front of two hundred people.
"You were cruel to me because you were afraid."
"Yes."
"That explains it. It doesn't excuse it."
"I understand."
Vanessa placed a small envelope on the table.
Inside was a copy of a message Grant had sent to Victor several days before the gala.
The Voss connection is the key. Once Rowan's company is under our control, the shipping contracts become easier to negotiate.
Rowan read it twice.
Grant had not merely wanted to take her company.
He had wanted to use it as leverage in the larger acquisition.
Vanessa watched her carefully.
"Did you know?"
"No."
"I thought you should."
Rowan handed the envelope to her attorney later that day.
The message became another piece of the investigation into the proposed acquisition.
That evening, Callum arrived at Rowan's kitchen carrying a box of pastries.
"You're bribing me with dessert," she said.
"Is it working?"
"Possibly."
He set the box down.
"I've been reviewing the connections between Meridian and Victor. My legal team has identified a series of transactions that suggest the proposed acquisition was designed to conceal the actual ownership of several freight contracts."
"Can you prove it?"
"Not yet. But we have enough to request further records."
Rowan looked at him.
"Does this mean Grant was working with Victor?"
"It means Grant communicated with him about the transaction. Whether he understood every part of the arrangement remains under investigation."
She nodded slowly.
Then she asked the question that had been haunting her.
"If I hadn't met you, would Victor still have targeted my company?"
Callum took a long breath.
"I don't know."
She looked away.
He continued.
"But I do know that your company became useful to people who wanted access to my business. That connection is something we need to understand."
Rowan stared at the pastries.
She had wanted her new relationship with Callum to be separate from her old heartbreak.
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Now she understood that the two stories had collided for a reason.
And somewhere in the records Victor was trying to hide was the answer to why.
