Chapter 7 - THE FALL OF VANESSA VALE
I returned home immediately.
Claire was waiting in the library.
She held an old photograph.
“This is her.”
I looked.
A teenage girl stood beside Claire's uncle, Arthur Vale.
Her name was Elena Mercer.
“Who is she?”
“Arthur's daughter.”
My blood ran cold.
“Vanessa is his daughter?”
Claire nodded.
“She changed her name after Arthur died.”
“Why?”
“Because my grandmother blamed Arthur for everything.”
I stared at the photograph.
Vanessa hadn't entered Claire's life by accident.
She had planned it.
She had spent years becoming Claire's closest friend.
She had waited.
And now she wanted the inheritance.
But something didn't make sense.
“If she wanted the trust, why poison you?”
“She needed me dead after the triplets were born.”
“Why?”
“Because that's when the trust activated.”
I understood.
Then the front door opened.
Vanessa walked inside.
She wasn't hiding anymore.
Two armed men stood behind her.
My guards raised their weapons.
Vanessa smiled.
“Please.”
She looked at me.
“Let's stop pretending.”
I stepped forward.
“Where is my father?”
“Safe.”
“Where?”
“In the basement.”
My heart stopped.
I ran.
We found him tied to a chair.
Alive.
Barely conscious.
I freed him.
Vanessa watched from the doorway.
“I never wanted anyone to die.”
I looked at her.
“You poisoned Claire.”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
She shook her head.
“Someone above me.”
“Who?”
She laughed bitterly.
“You still don't understand.”
She pointed toward the hallway.
“Your father knows.”
My father looked at her.
“Don't.”
Vanessa's expression changed.
“You lied to me too.”
“I protected your daughter.”
Vanessa froze.
“My daughter?”
I looked at her.
“What?”
She stared at my father.
“You told me she was dead.”
My father closed his eyes.
“I had no choice.”
Vanessa began crying.
Everything suddenly became more complicated.
She wasn't simply a villain.
She had been manipulated too.
Her daughter had apparently been taken years ago.
Arthur had told her that the Sloane family was responsible.
She had spent years seeking revenge.
But who had been feeding her those lies?
My father finally spoke.
“The man behind this is Richard Vale.”
Claire gasped.
“Impossible.”
“Your grandfather's brother.”
“He died twenty years ago.”
“No.”
My father looked at me.
“He disappeared.”
Then the lights went out.
A gunshot echoed.
Vanessa screamed.
When the emergency lights returned, one of the armed men was dead.
Richard Vale stood at the far end of the corridor.
Older.
Gray-haired.
Smiling.
“You always were too slow, Edward.”
My father stared at him.
“Richard.”
Richard looked at Claire.
“The heir.”
Then at the triplets.
“And the children.”
He smiled.
“Everything your family stole from mine will finally be returned.”
He raised a gun.
I stepped in front of Claire.
The shot never came.
Vanessa attacked Richard from behind.
The gun fell.
Security rushed in.
Richard escaped through a hidden passage.
Vanessa collapsed.
I caught her.
She looked up at me.
“I never wanted this.”
I believed her.
For the first time.
She whispered:
“Your children are still in danger.”
I turned toward the nursery.
May you like
The doors were open.
My blood ran cold.
