Chapter 9 - THE WOMAN WHO WANTED A FAMILY
Vanessa asked to see me.
Detective Bennett warned me that I did not have to agree. I chose to hear what she had to say, but only with the detective and Michael present.
She sat across from me in a plain interview room.
Without the wedding dress and the fake pregnancy belly, she looked like a different person.
Her eyes were red.
“Ethan.”
I said nothing.
“I never wanted it to happen this way.”
“You planned my death.”
She shook her head.
“Adrian was supposed to scare you. He said the accident would be staged. He said you wouldn't be seriously hurt.”
I stared at her.
“You believed that?”
“I thought you would be unconscious for a few days. Then I would have control of the trust and the insurance until you recovered.”
“And if I didn't recover?”
She looked down.
The silence answered for her.
I leaned forward.
“Was there ever a baby?”
“No.”
“Were you ever pregnant?”
“No.”
The word came out quietly.
“Why?”
Vanessa wiped her cheek.
“Because I knew you wanted another child. You wanted a family. I thought if I told you I was pregnant, you would finally stop worrying that I might leave.”
“So you bought a fake belly.”
“Adrian arranged it.”
“And the ultrasound photographs?”
“Edited images. He knew someone at a private clinic.”
I remembered the times I had asked to attend appointments.
The excuses.
The canceled visits.
The way she had always insisted that the baby was shy.
“You let me talk to an empty stomach,” I said.
Vanessa began to cry.
“I know.”
“You watched me build a nursery.”
“I know.”
“You watched Nora choose a name for a baby who didn't exist.”
“I know!”
Her voice cracked.
For the first time, anger broke through her tears.
“You don't understand what it was like. Adrian and I had a child together. I gave him up because I couldn't afford to raise him. I thought you could give me the family I never had.”
I looked at her.
“You had a chance to have a family. You chose to deceive us.”
“Adrian said the money would solve everything.”
“Adrian didn't force you to lie to my daughter.”
She looked away.
I asked about the recording.
She admitted that Adrian had been planning the fraud for months. He had learned about my insurance through a business contact and approached her with the idea of marriage. Vanessa was supposed to become my wife, gain access to the trust, and help transfer the funds.
The fake pregnancy was her idea.
She believed it would make me more willing to sign the documents and less likely to question her sudden interest in family finances.
“What about Nora?” I asked.
Vanessa's eyes filled again.
“I liked her.”
“Then why were you going to send her away?”
“Adrian said she would be a problem. He said she would always remind you of Rachel.”
I stood.
“Don't use my daughter to excuse what you did.”
Vanessa reached toward me.
“Ethan, I did love you.”
I stepped back.
“You loved what you thought you could get from me.”
I turned toward the door.
Behind me, she said, “What happens now?”
I paused.
“Now the truth gets told.”
Outside, Detective Bennett explained that Vanessa had been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy, attempted fraud, and participation in a plan to cause serious harm. Adrian faced additional charges, including attempted murder and identity-related fraud.
The investigation would take time.
May you like
But the wedding was over.
And so was the future Vanessa had invented.
