Chapter 3 - The Woman in the Cream CoatMarcus ordered the mansion locked down.
No one left.
No one entered.
Every employee was questioned individually.
Vanessa was still upstairs preparing for a charity luncheon when two security officers knocked on her bedroom door.
She appeared ten minutes later wearing a cream dress.
Perfect hair.
Perfect makeup.
Perfect smile.
“What happened?”
Marcus stood at the end of the hallway.
“You tell me.”
Her smile disappeared.
“What does that mean?”
He held up a photograph from the security footage.
Vanessa taking my phone.
For the first time, she looked nervous.
“I can explain.”
“You have thirty seconds.”
She looked at me.
Then at Lily.
Something cold passed through her eyes.
“I picked it up because it was unattended.”
“You opened it.”
“I was checking whose it was.”
“You put it in your purse.”
“I forgot.”
Marcus's voice hardened.
“You forgot for eighteen hours?”
She said nothing.
He stepped closer.
“Why was there remote-access software installed on it?”
Vanessa's face went completely still.
That was the answer.
She knew.
Marcus saw it.
So did I.
“You knew,” he said.
“No.”
“You knew.”
She shook her head.
“I swear—”
“Who installed it?”
Vanessa backed away.
“I don't know what you're talking about.”
Marcus's security chief appeared behind him.
“Sir.”
He handed Marcus a tablet.
“We traced one connection.”
Marcus looked down.
Then his jaw tightened.
“It's an internal Cole Meridian account.”
My stomach turned.
Someone inside Marcus's company had used my phone to access his private network.
And Vanessa had been involved.
But the worst part came next.
The security chief whispered:
“The account belongs to someone in Mr. Cole's executive office.”
Marcus looked at Vanessa.
“Who?”
The man hesitated.
“Your chief financial officer.”
Silence.
Vanessa closed her eyes.
Marcus didn't move.
His CFO had worked beside him for eleven years.
Trusted.
Respected.
Almost family.
Then Lily whispered:
“Mister Marcus?”
He looked down.
She was holding Mr. Bun.
“Mommy says people can hide behind smiles.”
Marcus stared at her.
For some reason, those words affected him more than the security report.
Because he suddenly remembered something.
His mother had said almost the same thing years ago.
Before she died.
May you like
And the person standing beside her at the time had been—
Vanessa's father.
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