Chapter 10 - The Father of the Heir
I asked Lucas the obvious question.
"Who is the father?"
He did not answer.
"You called me and told me to protect Vanessa from Everett."
"Yes."
"Then tell me why."
"Because the answer belongs to Vanessa."
"The answer became my business when she held an ultrasound over my head in a ballroom."
"I am not defending what she did."
"Good."
"I am asking you not to punish a child for the adults around it."
The anger drained out of my voice.
"I would never hurt her baby."
"I know."
"You do not know me."
"Your father did."
That stopped me.
"How well did you know my father?"
"Well enough to owe him my life."
"Then come in and testify."
Lucas laughed quietly.
"You make that sound easy."
"It is easier than hiding for eight years while people destroy evidence."
"You think I have been hiding because I am afraid of a lawsuit?"
"I think you have evidence."
"I have enough evidence to make people desperate."
"People already are desperate."
Lucas was silent.
Then he said, "I will meet you."
Nathan leaned closer.
"Where?"
"Not with Nathan."
The words landed hard.
Nathan's face did not move.
"Why not?" I asked.
"Because I never learned whether he was part of Henry's trap or part of the reason Henry needed one."
"That is not fair."
"Fair stopped mattering in 2018."
"Then give me something verifiable."
Lucas thought for a moment.
"There is a storage account under the name Bluebird Archive at First Mercantile in Newark."
Nathan's eyes widened.
"What is in it?"
"A copy of the ledger I gave Henry."
"Why not use it years ago?"
"Because the original evidence tied back to me through Vanta Shore, and Everett's people had already built a theft case."
"So you ran."
"I survived."
"Those are not always the same thing."
"No."
His voice softened.
"They are not."
He gave me access instructions that required his verbal authorization at the bank.
Then he said he would contact me again within twenty-four hours.
Before hanging up, he added one final warning.
"Do not tell Vanessa I called."
"Why?"
"Because she thinks I abandoned her."
"Didn't you?"
The line went quiet.
"Yes."
Then he disconnected.
I looked at Nathan.
"He does not trust you."
"I heard."
"Do you know why?"
"No."
"Would you tell me if you did?"
His face tightened.
"I deserve that."
"That was not an answer."
"Yes."
"Yes, you would tell me?"
"Yes."
I wanted to believe him.
I was not ready.
At 3:00 a.m., Vanessa sent another message.
PLEASE MEET ME ALONE.
I replied with one word.
WHERE.
She sent the address of a twenty-four-hour diner in Queens.
Nathan objected immediately.
"No."
"She asked for me alone."
"That does not mean you go without security."
"Security can stay outside."
"Claire."
"I am going."
He stared at me.
"Then at least wear a wire."
"Absolutely not."
"Why?"
"Because I want her to talk to me, not to a future jury."
Nathan exhaled in frustration.
"Your father used to do this too."
"Stop telling me that."
"Then stop doing things that remind me of him."
At 3:48, I entered the diner alone.
Vanessa sat in a booth near the back.
No designer dress.
No diamonds.
No perfect makeup.
She wore leggings, a gray sweatshirt, and a baseball cap pulled low.
She looked twenty years younger than she had at the gala.
She also looked terrified.
I sat across from her.
Neither of us spoke for several seconds.
Then Vanessa said, "I am sorry about the wine."
I stared at her.
"That is where you want to start?"
"No."
"Good."
She looked down at her hands.
"I am sorry about all of it."
"Are you sorry because it was wrong or because Everett lost?"
Her jaw tightened.
"Both."
The honesty surprised me.
"Did Diane hire you?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"Eight months ago."
"To seduce Everett?"
"No."
"Then what?"
"To become visible around him."
"Why?"
"She said Everett needed a public relationship before he filed for divorce."
"You agreed to play mistress."
"For money."
"How much?"
"Two hundred fifty thousand if you signed the separation agreement."
That matched Diane's notebook.
"And the pregnancy?"
Vanessa closed her eyes.
"That was not part of the original plan."
"But you used it."
"Diane used it first."
"Explain."
Vanessa rubbed both hands over her face.
"I told her I was pregnant three weeks ago."
"Why tell Diane?"
"Because she had been paying my expenses and wanted me at every event."
"What did she ask?"
"Who the father was."
"What did you say?"
"That I was not certain."
"And Everett?"
"She told me not to tell him that."
I felt cold anger returning.
"So he thinks the baby is his."
"He thought it could be."
"That is not the same thing."
"No."
"Why announce it as fact?"
"Because Diane said it would push you over the edge."
"And you agreed."
Vanessa looked at me.
"Yes."
I wanted to hate her cleanly.
She made it difficult by refusing to lie about what she had done.
"Who else could be the father?"
Vanessa stared at the table.
"Miles Grant."
I knew the name immediately.
Miles was Hale Meridian's deputy chief financial officer.
He had worked directly under Everett for four years.
He was married.
He was also the man who had certified the financial schedules hiding the Lydon debt.
"How long?"
"About a year."
"You were sleeping with Everett and Miles?"
"I slept with Everett twice."
"And Miles?"
"It was a relationship."
"Was?"
Vanessa swallowed.
"He ended it when I told him I was pregnant."
"Convenient."
"He said Everett would kill both of our careers."
"Careers?"
I almost laughed.
"You were being paid to destroy my marriage."
"I know."
"Miles was falsifying company schedules."
"I know that now."
"What did you know then?"
"That he was moving money for Everett."
My attention sharpened.
"Where?"
"Vanta Shore."
"So you knew about the shell."
"Yes."
"It is in your name."
"Not originally."
"Lucas Trent's name was on the first filing."
Vanessa's face went blank.
"How do you know that?"
I remembered Lucas's warning not to reveal the call.
"The audit found it."
Vanessa looked away.
"Lucas is my father."
"I know."
Her head snapped toward me.
"How?"
"Background records."
The lie came more easily than I liked.
"Diane knew too."
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
"Diane knows everything she can use against you."
"Why did she hire you?"
"At first I thought she had no idea who I was."
"And later?"
"She showed me a photograph of my father."
"What did she say?"
"She said he stole from Hale Meridian and disappeared."
"Do you believe her?"
"I used to."
"What changed?"
Vanessa reached into her bag.
Security outside could see through the diner window.
I stayed still.
She placed a small flash drive on the table.
"Miles gave me this six months ago."
"What is on it?"
"A duplicate ledger."
"Why give it to you?"
"Insurance."
"Against Everett?"
"Against everyone."
"Did you read it?"
"Some of it."
"What did you find?"
Vanessa's eyes filled with tears.
For once, they were not theatrical.
"Payments to a medical clinic."
"Mine?"
"Yes."
"Payments to Peter Voss."
"Yes."
"Payments to Vanta Shore."
"Yes."
"What else?"
She pushed the drive toward me.
"A payment to a private investigator three days before my father's car crash."
My breath caught.
"From whose account?"
"Hale Family Services."
"Authorized by?"
Vanessa whispered the name.
"Diane."
I picked up the flash drive.
"Why give this to me now?"
"Because Everett came to my apartment after the gala."
"You said he threatened you."
"He did more than that."
Vanessa pulled out her phone.
There was a recording.
Her hands shook as she pressed play.
Everett's voice filled the booth.
"You will tell everyone the baby is mine."
Vanessa's recorded voice answered, "We do not know that."
Everett said, "It does not matter."
"It matters to me."
"Then think very carefully about how much you want to keep the life you have."
The recording went silent for two seconds.
Then Everett spoke again.
"My mother did not spend eight years cleaning up your father's mess so his daughter could destroy everything now."
Vanessa stopped the audio.
I stared at her.
"Eight years."
"Yes."
"He knew exactly who you were."
"Yes."
"He knew your father did not simply disappear."
"Yes."
"And he still used you."
Vanessa's mouth trembled.
"Yes."
I put the flash drive in my bag.
Then I asked the question I had been avoiding.
"Does Miles know you are meeting me?"
Vanessa looked toward the diner window.
"No."
"Where is he?"
"I do not know."
My phone rang.
Nathan.
I answered.
"What?"
His voice was urgent.
"Do not leave the diner."
"Why?"
"Miles Grant just used his badge to enter Hale Meridian's server floor."
"At four in the morning?"
"He disabled two internal cameras."
I looked at Vanessa.
Her face drained of color.
"What is on those servers?"
Nathan answered immediately.
"The raw audit archive."
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The evidence connecting Everett's money, Diane's shell companies, Vanessa's payments, and Lucas's disappearance was all stored there.
And the possible father of Vanessa's child had just walked into the building with access to erase it.
