Chapter 6 - The Woman Behind the Betrayal
Vanessa disappeared for thirty-six hours.
Her apartment was empty.
Her bank accounts had been frozen.
Her car was found abandoned near a private airfield in New Jersey.
Dominic's security team searched every property connected to her.
Meanwhile, Evelyn returned to her studio.
She had decided that waiting for Dominic's explanations was no longer an option.
She contacted three former clients, reopened her business website, and announced that Mercer Atelier would accept new commissions beginning the following month.
Within forty-eight hours, the studio had received more inquiries than she expected.
Lily was ecstatic.
“You have no idea how many people have been waiting for you to come back.”
Evelyn smiled.
“I think I have some idea.”
Then Rachel called.
“We found Vanessa.”
“Where?”
“An apartment in Wilmington. But there's something else.”
“What?”
“She has been communicating with someone named Richard Hale.”
Evelyn froze.
“Richard Hale?”
“Vanessa's father?”
“Yes.”
Rachel lowered her voice.
“He was one of the founding members of the Ravenport Circle.”
Evelyn sat down.
She remembered Dominic mentioning Richard Hale once, years earlier.
He had described him as a ruthless businessman who had disappeared after an internal dispute.
“What does he have to do with Vanessa?”
“Everything, possibly. Your former friend wasn't simply dating your husband. She was reporting on his business.”
Evelyn felt a chill.
“Reporting to whom?”
“Her father.”
Rachel sent her a file.
It contained bank transfers, encrypted messages, and photographs of meetings.
Vanessa had been sending Richard information about Dominic's warehouses, security arrangements, financial accounts, and private contracts.
The affair had been useful.
It gave her access.
But there was another detail.
A message from Vanessa to an unknown contact.
Evelyn still has the original ledger. Dominic doesn't know where she hid it.
Evelyn stared at the screen.
What ledger?
She searched her memory.
Years earlier, when she was working on her first collection, she had kept an old leather notebook containing her grandmother's financial records and original textile partnership agreements.
Her grandmother had been a seamstress who built a small manufacturing business from nothing.
The notebook contained the original ownership structure of a company that later became part of Mercer Holdings.
Evelyn had always assumed it was sentimental paperwork.
She remembered putting it in a box beneath the floorboards of her old studio.
But the box was gone.
She called Lily.
“Did anyone remove the wooden panel beneath my cutting table?”
Lily was silent.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“About two weeks ago.”
“Who?”
“I don't know. The building manager said someone had authorization from Mercer Holdings.”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
Dominic had been searching for the ledger.
And Vanessa knew about it.
That evening, Dominic arrived at the studio.
He didn't knock.
He walked straight into the room, followed by two security men.
Evelyn stood behind her cutting table.
“You need to leave.”
“Not until we talk.”
“We've talked.”
“No. You've heard rumors and made decisions.”
She laughed without humor.
“You mean the documents with my signature? The money taken from my company? Your daughter? Your mistress?”
His face hardened.
“Don't bring Sophie into this.”
“I didn't. You did when you lied about her.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“Vanessa has been working with my enemies.”
“Your enemies?”
“Richard Hale is trying to take control of my organization. He used her to get close to me.”
“And you let him.”
“I didn't know who she was working for.”
Evelyn stared at him.
“Do you expect me to believe that?”
“I loved you.”
The words came out so quietly that she almost missed them.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Evelyn said, “Love doesn't make people sign documents under false pretenses.”
Dominic looked down.
“I know.”
“Love doesn't steal someone's company.”
“I know.”
“Love doesn't humiliate its wife in front of twenty-eight people to protect the woman sleeping with her husband.”
His jaw tightened.
“I should have stopped her.”
“You should have stopped yourself years ago.”
He reached into his jacket and placed a small key on the table.
“It's for the safe in my study. There's something inside you need to see.”
“Why should I trust you?”
“You shouldn't.”
That answer surprised her.
Dominic looked exhausted.
“Just look at it.”
He turned toward the door.
Before leaving, he stopped.
“Evelyn, there's one more thing. Your grandmother didn't leave you just a textile business.”
“What?”
“She left you ownership rights in a property development company that my father helped build.”
Evelyn stared at him.
“That doesn't make sense.”
“It does if you know what your grandmother really owned.”
He left.
Evelyn picked up the key.
She had no intention of returning to the Hawthorne estate.
But the next morning, she received a photograph from Rachel.
It showed a woman entering the estate through the servants' entrance.
The woman was Vanessa.
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And she was carrying a black leather briefcase.
The timestamp was from eleven minutes earlier.
