CHAPTER 7 — THE WOMAN BEHIND THE EMPIRE
Evelyn had always behaved like royalty.
Now Isabella finally understood why.
She had not merely enjoyed Damian’s plan.
She had created it.
Marcus traced Vanessa’s call to an abandoned Cross Meridian warehouse near the river.
Detective Rowan organized a recovery team, but Isabella insisted on going.
“You are a target,” Rowan warned.
“So is Vanessa.”
“She helped destroy your marriage.”
“That does not give Evelyn the right to silence her.”
The warehouse appeared empty from the outside.
Inside, they found Vanessa tied to a chair in a former executive office.
Evelyn was gone.
So was the silver case.
Vanessa’s makeup was smeared, and one side of her face was red, but she remained conscious.
When Isabella entered, Vanessa looked away.
“I suppose this is satisfying for you.”
“No.”
“You should hate me.”
“I do.”
Vanessa looked back at her.
Isabella continued calmly.
“But I will not become the kind of woman who watches another person suffer and calls it justice.”
Vanessa began to cry.
Not loudly.
Not dramatically.
The tears simply came.
She admitted everything.
Evelyn had recruited Adrian Locke years earlier.
Damian had been raised to believe the Cross family had been cheated by the Montroses. Evelyn convinced him that marrying Isabella would reclaim what belonged to them.
Vanessa was supposed to remain Damian’s secret partner until Isabella’s shares were transferred.
“And then?” Isabella asked.
“Then he was supposed to divorce you and marry me.”
“Was he?”
Vanessa gave a bitter laugh.
“I found messages between Damian and another woman last month.”
Even Vanessa had been replaceable.
Detective Rowan removed a recording device from the room.
Evelyn had left behind one message.
“You are still looking at the wrong person, Isabella.”
The recording continued.
“Ask your father why your mother’s trust was changed three days before her death.”
Isabella froze.
Alexander had always told her that Eleanor’s trust had remained untouched.
Vanessa looked toward the door.
“There is something else.”
“What?”
“Evelyn showed me a document from the silver case.”
“What document?”
“A signed amendment transferring temporary control of the Montrose trust to your father.”
“That makes no sense. He already managed the trust after my mother died.”
“This document was dated before she died.”
Isabella returned to headquarters without speaking.
Alexander was waiting in the boardroom.
She placed Evelyn’s recording on the table and pressed play.
Her father’s face lost its color.
“Tell me she is lying,” Isabella said.
Alexander looked down.
“I cannot.”
The answer struck more deeply than Damian’s hand ever had.
“You changed my mother’s trust?”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“From whom?”
Alexander lifted his eyes.
“From Evelyn.”
Isabella stepped closer.
“What happened three days before my mother died?”
Her father opened his mouth.
Before he could answer, every screen in the boardroom turned black.
A red message appeared.
MONTROSE GLOBAL DATA RELEASE BEGINS IN 60 MINUTES.
Below it was a countdown clock.
May you like
Evelyn had not stolen the silver case to escape.
She intended to destroy the company from inside it.
