Chapter 4: Vanessa’s Brother
Nathan wanted to believe Vanessa was creating another lie.
It would have been easier.
A cruel wife inventing a criminal brother to excuse her actions was easier to understand than fear.
But Vanessa was shaking.
Not dramatically.
Not the rehearsed trembling she used when pretending to be pregnant.
This was different.
Her fingers could barely close around her purse.
Ethan noticed too.
“Sit down,” he said.
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“You don’t get to order me around.”
“Then keep standing. But start talking.”
Nathan remained near the table.
“Why are you afraid of Adrian?”
Vanessa looked at the front door.
“Because he doesn’t forgive failure.”
“What did you fail to do?”
She hesitated.
Then she removed a second phone from the lining of her purse.
Nathan stared.
“How many secrets are in that bag?”
“More than you want to know.”
Vanessa unlocked the phone and handed it to Ethan.
There were dozens of messages from a contact saved only as A.
The latest message had arrived minutes earlier.
YOU HAD ONE JOB. KEEP HIM BLIND UNTIL THE TRANSFER CLEARS.
Ethan scrolled upward.
Nathan read over his shoulder.
The messages went back months.
Photographs of Nathan leaving work.
Images of Margaret’s house.
A picture of Ethan standing outside a coffee shop.
The family had been watched.
Nathan’s anger slowly became unease.
“What transfer?”
Vanessa sat down.
“Your company is completing a merger next week.”
Nathan’s heart stopped.
Very few people knew.
“How do you know that?”
“You told me.”
“I never told you the account details.”
“You didn’t have to. Your passwords were saved on your home computer.”
Ethan looked up.
“How much money becomes accessible after the merger?”
Nathan’s voice was quiet.
“Almost eight million dollars.”
Margaret gripped his arm.
Vanessa closed her eyes.
“Adrian wanted all of it.”
Nathan took a step back.
“You planned to steal eight million dollars from me?”
“I was supposed to.”
“Supposed to?”
Vanessa looked at him.
“I changed my mind.”
Nathan laughed once, without humor.
“Was that before or after you stole one hundred and eighty-seven thousand?”
“I took that money to pay Adrian and make him leave us alone.”
“Us?”
“You think I wanted him near you?”
Nathan stared at her.
Vanessa’s voice softened.
“When I married you, I thought I had escaped him. I changed my name. I moved cities. I built a different life.”
“You built it on lies.”
“Yes.”
She did not deny it.
“Adrian found me last year. He had debts. Dangerous debts. He learned about your company and decided you were his solution.”
“So you helped him.”
“At first.”
Nathan’s eyes filled with disgust.
“At first?”
“He threatened to expose everything about my past. He said you would leave me if you knew who I was.”
“You were right.”
The words hurt her.
Nathan saw it.
He did not take them back.
Vanessa looked down.
“I helped him access small accounts. Then he demanded more. When you became suspicious, I needed a reason for you to stop questioning me.”
“The pregnancy.”
“Yes.”
Ethan placed the second phone on the table.
“And when did you supposedly change your mind?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“Why?”
Vanessa looked at Nathan.
“Because he started talking about what would happen after the transfer.”
Nathan felt cold.
“What would happen?”
“He said you couldn’t be allowed to report the theft.”
Margaret whispered, “Oh, God.”
Vanessa’s eyes filled with genuine terror.
“He wasn’t planning to leave you alive.”
A loud crack came from the front window.
The glass shattered inward.
Margaret screamed.
Ethan pulled her down.
Nathan grabbed Vanessa and dropped behind the dining table as a second bullet struck the wall.
Outside, tires screamed against the pavement.
May you like
Then the car disappeared into the night.
On the floor beside Nathan, the fake silicone belly lay pierced by broken glass.
