Chapter 9 - VANESSA IN MY SCRUBS
—
I stared at the image until the details became unbearable.
Vanessa wore navy scrubs nearly identical to mine.
Her hair was pulled into the low knot I wore at work.
She had even borrowed the same kind of canvas tote I carried to the hospital.
At the notary's desk, she signed my name.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Like she had practiced.
My stomach turned.
"Send that to the detective," I said.
Evelyn was already doing it.
Across the courthouse hallway, Vanessa stood beside Tyler with one hand on her belly.
She had no idea I was holding proof.
I started toward her.
Giovanni stepped beside me.
"Do you want me there?"
I almost said no.
Then I looked at Tyler.
"Nearby."
"Nearby."
He stopped several feet away.
I walked the rest alone.
Vanessa saw my face and immediately knew something had changed.
"What?"
I held up Evelyn's phone.
The still image filled the screen.
Vanessa went white.
Tyler leaned in.
His reaction was different.
Not surprise.
Anger.
At her.
"What the hell did you do?"
Vanessa turned on him.
"Don't."
"You signed her name?"
"You told me—"
She stopped.
Too late.
I looked at Tyler.
"He told you what?"
Vanessa's eyes filled with panic.
Tyler grabbed her elbow.
"We're leaving."
She pulled away.
"Don't touch me."
People turned.
Tyler lowered his voice.
"Vanessa."
"No."
Her face changed as she looked at him.
I recognized the moment.
It was the moment a woman realizes the man beside her has already decided which one of them will be sacrificed.
I had lived that moment five years earlier.
"You said it was just a pickup form," she whispered.
Tyler's face hardened.
"Shut up."
"You said Jessica had agreed to visitation and then changed her mind."
"Vanessa."
"You said the form was only to show the school you were Lily's father."
"Stop talking."
Evelyn stepped closer.
"Mrs. Mercer, you may want independent counsel before you say anything further."
Vanessa stared at her.
Tyler laughed bitterly.
"Of course the Fierro lawyer wants to split us up."
"No," Evelyn said.
"The evidence appears to be doing that without my help."
Vanessa looked at me.
"I didn't know about the drugs."
"But you knew about the forged form."
Her mouth trembled.
"Yes."
"Did you sign my name?"
"Yes."
Tyler swore under his breath.
"Were you sleeping with him before he left me?"
Vanessa closed her eyes.
"Jessica."
"Yes or no."
"Yes."
The word should have hurt more.
Instead, it felt like a door finally opening in a room where I had been trapped for years.
I had not failed to keep Tyler.
He had already chosen betrayal before he knew whether our marriage would survive anything at all.
"Did you know about my trust?"
"I knew there was money."
"Did Tyler?"
She looked at him.
He stared back with warning in his eyes.
That answer was enough.
"Yes," she whispered.
Tyler stepped toward her.
Giovanni moved at the same time.
He did not touch Tyler.
He simply placed himself between us.
Tyler stopped.
"This is none of your business."
Giovanni's voice stayed quiet.
"You made it my business when you forged a guarantor on a loan from my company."
Tyler's face changed.
"I didn't forge anything."
"Then you have extraordinary bad luck with signatures."
A courthouse deputy looked over from the metal detector station.
Tyler noticed and backed away.
Vanessa wiped her face.
"Robert told Tyler the trust would release when Jessica turned thirty."
I felt the hallway go still around me.
"When?"
"Before our wedding."
"Four years ago."
"Yes."
"And you still married him."
Vanessa's laugh sounded broken.
"I thought he loved me."
I almost told her what she had told me for years.
People move on.
Instead, I asked the question that mattered.
"What did Robert want?"
"I don't know."
"You're lying."
"I'm not."
"You impersonated me for a notary yesterday."
"Because Tyler said it was temporary."
"That does not make you trustworthy."
She flinched.
Good.
"What did Robert want?"
Vanessa looked toward Tyler.
Then she lowered her voice.
"He wanted Tyler to keep the loan alive until the trust released."
Evelyn stepped closer.
"Why?"
"Because Tyler was supposed to refinance once Jessica's share became available."
"With money he didn't own."
"Robert said he could arrange distributions if Tyler had legal access through Lily."
My blood went cold.
"Custody."
Vanessa nodded.
"Partial custody was supposed to be enough."
I looked at Tyler.
He had gone very still.
"You were going to use Lily to get money from my trust."
"That is not what happened."
"Then tell me what happened."
"I wanted to be in my daughter's life."
"You wanted to be in her bank account."
His jaw tightened.
"You don't know anything about running a company."
I laughed in disbelief.
"There it is."
"Mercer Development employs eighty people."
"So you forged my signature to save eighty jobs?"
"I did not forge it."
"Who did?"
Silence.
"Robert?"
Silence.
"Vanessa?"
"I signed only the school form," she said quickly.
Tyler turned on her.
"You need to stop talking."
She looked at him with sudden hatred.
"You told me Jessica signed the loan."
His face drained.
I stared at him.
"You told her I signed it."
"I thought you had."
"You submitted the application."
"Robert handled the paperwork."
There it was.
Evelyn's eyes sharpened.
"Mr. Mercer, are you stating that Robert Hale prepared the guarantor documents?"
Tyler realized what he had admitted.
His attorney rushed toward us from the courtroom.
"My client is done speaking."
"Your client began speaking on his own," Evelyn said.
"And he is finished."
The attorney grabbed Tyler's shoulder and moved him away.
Vanessa did not follow.
Tyler looked back.
"Come on."
She shook her head.
"No."
"Vanessa."
"You said you were fixing things."
"I am."
"You were going to let me take the blame."
"That's not true."
"You just did."
Tyler stared at her.
Then at me.
Then at Giovanni.
"You'll regret this."
I answered before anyone else could.
"I already regret you."
His face twisted.
Then his attorney dragged him away.
Vanessa sank onto a bench.
I remained standing.
I did not comfort her.
I did not insult her either.
She had spent years helping Tyler hurt me.
Her tears did not erase that.
But I understood the expression on her face.
She had just discovered that being chosen by Tyler did not mean being protected by him.
"Why did you wear my scrubs?" I asked.
She looked down.
"The notary needed photo identification."
"You don't look exactly like me."
"Robert had a copy of your old driver's license."
My stomach tightened.
"How?"
"Trust records."
"That license expired six years ago."
"He changed the expiration date on the copy."
Evelyn cursed quietly.
"The notary accepted a photocopy?"
"Tyler paid her."
Vanessa looked up.
"Five hundred dollars."
"Do you know her name?"
"Marcy Allen."
"Do you know where Tyler got the prescriptions?"
"No."
"Do you know who took the picture outside my apartment?"
Her face changed.
"What picture?"
I believed her surprise.
That frightened me.
"Someone photographed Lily sleeping."
Vanessa went pale.
"Tyler?"
"The message came from a number he used."
"He wasn't with me after midnight."
"Where was he?"
"He said he was meeting Robert."
"Where?"
"I don't know."
Giovanni finally spoke from behind me.
"Did Tyler ever mention Carlo Fierro?"
Vanessa looked at him.
"No."
"Bellandi?"
A pause.
"Once."
Giovanni's expression sharpened.
"When?"
"Last month."
"What did he say?"
"He said if the Bellandi deal closed, his loan problems would disappear."
Giovanni and Evelyn exchanged a look.
"Why?" I asked.
Giovanni answered.
"Because Carlo's division would receive a major capital injection after the merger."
"And he could bury Tyler's default."
"Possibly."
Vanessa wiped her cheeks.
"I didn't know any of this."
I looked at her.
"You knew enough to dress like me and sign my name."
She lowered her eyes.
"Yes."
"I will not protect you from the consequences of that."
"I know."
"But if you tell the truth about Tyler and Robert, I will tell the truth about what you did to help expose them."
She looked up.
"Why?"
"Because Lily deserves adults who stop lying before they run out of lies."
Vanessa started crying again.
This time I walked away.
Outside the courthouse, reporters were waiting.
I stopped dead.
There had been none when we arrived.
Now at least a dozen cameras faced the doors.
"Jessica Hale!"
"Ms. Hale, are you married to Giovanni Fierro?"
"Is Tyler Mercer accusing you of drug abuse?"
"Mr. Fierro, did your family pay Ms. Hale?"
My stomach dropped.
The custody case had been sealed from public access because it involved a minor.
Someone had leaked it.
Giovanni stepped in front of me.
"Do not answer."
"I know."
Evelyn called for courthouse security.
We moved toward the waiting sedan.
A reporter shouted another question.
"Jessica, did you know Giovanni's company financed your ex-husband?"
Another voice followed.
"Did you begin a relationship with Mr. Fierro to avoid Tyler's debt?"
I reached the car door.
Then one question stopped me.
"Ms. Hale, is it true Children's Memorial has opened an investigation into your access to narcotics?"
I turned.
Evelyn caught my arm.
"Don't."
"That's false."
"I know."
"I'm a nurse."
"I know."
"They are accusing me of stealing drugs."
"And yelling at reporters will not clear you."
The car door closed behind us.
My hands shook.
"Who leaked that?"
Giovanni looked out through the tinted window.
"Someone who knows your job is the part of your life you are proudest of."
I thought of Tyler insulting my career at the wedding.
I thought of him knowing exactly where to place the knife.
My phone rang.
Children's Memorial.
I answered.
"Jessica, this is Dana from Nursing Administration."
My supervisor's voice was careful.
"I need you to come in before your next shift."
My mouth went dry.
"Why?"
"We've received an anonymous complaint alleging medication diversion."
I closed my eyes.
"Dana, it's false."
"I believe you."
The words nearly broke me.
Then she continued.
"But because the complaint includes specific patient medication records, compliance has to investigate."
I stared at nothing.
"Specific records?"
"Yes."
"Someone would need hospital access."
"That is part of what we're looking into."
"Am I suspended?"
"Administrative leave with pay until the initial audit is complete."
I could not speak.
Tyler had attacked my motherhood.
Now someone was attacking my license.
The two things that defined my life.
"When do you need me?"
"Today if possible."
"I'll be there."
I ended the call.
Giovanni looked at me.
"What happened?"
"I'm on leave."
His face went still.
"Because of the pills?"
"Because someone reported me for stealing medication from patients."
Evelyn swore.
I looked out the window.
A huge digital billboard passed above the street.
The world outside kept moving.
Inside the car, mine was being dismantled piece by piece.
Then Giovanni's phone rang.
He answered.
"Yes."
He listened.
His expression changed.
"When?"
A pause.
"Send it to me."
He ended the call.
"What?"
He looked at Evelyn first.
"Carlo's back."
"Where?"
"Fierro Tower."
"Why?"
Giovanni turned his phone toward us.
An emergency board notice filled the screen.
MEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS - 4:00 P.M.
AGENDA: EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP AND MATERIAL REPUTATIONAL RISK.
I looked at Giovanni.
"They're removing you."
"They're going to try."
"Because of me?"
"Because my father needs someone to blame for the Bellandi deal collapsing."
"And I'm convenient."
"Very."
I thought about the reporters.
The hospital complaint.
The forged documents.
The way every attack landed precisely where it would hurt most.
Then a second alert appeared on Giovanni's phone.
He read it.
His expression became dangerous.
"What now?"
He turned the screen toward me.
A Chicago business blog had published a headline less than two minutes earlier.
FIERRO CEO'S SECRET WIFE LINKED TO DEFAULTED BORROWER AND DRUG PROBE.
Below the headline was the photograph from outside Children's Memorial.
The same photograph Isabella had handed me at the wedding.
The photograph Vincent Fierro claimed his investigator had taken.
I stared at it.
"Your father leaked it."
Giovanni's voice was flat.
"Or someone inside my family did."
The article included one more image.
A document.
My confidential nursing employee ID number was visible in the corner.
Only one place connected the photograph to that ID.
The anonymous complaint sent to my hospital.
Giovanni looked at me.
"Jessica, whoever is attacking you has access to both your family's records and mine."
And suddenly Tyler no longer looked like the architect of the plan.
May you like
He looked like another piece on someone else's board.
