CHAPTER 13 — VANESSA’S CHOICE
Vanessa stared at the transfer document inside the Montrose conference room.
“I never signed this.”
“You did not need to,” Claire explained. “Damian transferred the assets voluntarily.”
“Why?”
Damian entered under the supervision of federal investigators.
He looked exhausted.
The arrogance was gone.
“I knew my mother would destroy everything rather than lose control,” he said. “I moved the remaining legal assets before she could reach them.”
“To Vanessa?” Isabella asked.
“She was the only person my mother would not suspect me of protecting.”
Vanessa laughed without humor.
“You used me again.”
“Yes.”
The honesty left the room cold.
Damian had transferred employee pension reserves, legitimate Cross Meridian properties, and several family accounts into a temporary trust under Vanessa’s name.
He claimed he had done it to keep Evelyn and Adrian from stealing them.
But Claire discovered another clause.
If Vanessa were convicted of conspiracy, the assets would automatically transfer to Damian.
He had protected himself.
Even while pretending to protect others.
Vanessa looked at the man she had helped betray Isabella for.
“You never intended to marry me.”
Damian did not answer.
“You promised we would own Montrose together.”
“I promised what I needed you to believe.”
Vanessa slapped him.
The sound echoed across the room.
Damian did not move.
Perhaps for the first time, he understood what it meant to be publicly reduced by someone he had trusted.
Vanessa turned to Isabella.
“I will testify.”
“Against Damian?”
“Against all of them. Evelyn. Adrian. William. Damian.”
“You understand you will also be charged.”
“Yes.”
“You planted the necklace.”
“Yes.”
“You participated in the forgery.”
“Yes.”
“You helped them target me.”
Vanessa swallowed.
“Yes.”
“Then tell the entire truth.”
Vanessa signed a cooperation agreement.
She surrendered access to the transferred assets and gave investigators years of private messages between Damian and Evelyn.
The evidence proved Damian had known about the theft, the forged agreement, and the plan to discredit Isabella.
But one message suggested something worse.
Two weeks before the birthday dinner, Damian had written to Adrian:
If Isabella refuses to kneel, we move to the medical option.
Isabella read the sentence twice.
“What does ‘medical option’ mean?”
Damian looked away.
Claire searched the hidden office records.
She found a prepared petition requesting emergency guardianship over Isabella.
Attached were statements from three doctors claiming she suffered from delusions and dangerous emotional instability.
All three signatures were forged.
But another document was real.
A prescription had been issued in Isabella’s name.
The medication could cause confusion, dizziness, and memory loss.
Marcus checked the security footage from the mansion.
Every evening for six weeks, Evelyn had personally poured Isabella’s tea.
Isabella remembered the exhaustion.
The headaches.
The moments when she had struggled to focus.
They had not merely intended to steal her company.
They had been slowly preparing to take away her ability to defend herself.
Then Claire opened the prescription record.
May you like
The ordering physician was not connected to Evelyn.
The authorization had come from Alexander Montrose’s private medical account.
