Chapter 6 - THE OTHER SISTER
I showed Marcus the photograph.
He stopped moving.
Miriam whispered something I had never heard her say in twenty years of legal work.
“Oh, hell.”
Grace took the phone.
Her hands began shaking.
“That’s not Vanessa.”
“How do you know?”
“The scar.”
She enlarged the image.
“Emily mentioned it once.”
“What did she say?”
“Daniel’s younger sister was in a car accident when she was nineteen.”
“Name?”
Grace closed her eyes.
“Victoria.”
Vanessa and Victoria.
Twins.
Rebecca their older half-sister.
A family tree built from rot.
Marcus was already calling the detective.
I looked toward the library where Vanessa waited with her attorneys.
“Don’t tell her.”
Marcus paused.
“About Victoria?”
“Nothing.”
He nodded.
Miriam studied me.
“What are you planning?”
“Finding out which sister I almost married.”
Miriam frowned.
“Evan.”
I walked out.
Vanessa sat on the library sofa with perfect posture.
Her attorney, Howard Kline, stood when I entered.
“This meeting needs to be recorded.”
“Fine.”
Vanessa looked at me.
“Where are Sophie and Caleb?”
“Safe.”
“With you?”
“With people they trust.”
Her expression tightened.
A tiny reaction.
“You came to gloat?”
“No.”
I sat across from her.
“I came to apologize.”
Howard frowned.
Vanessa stared at me.
“For what?”
“For assuming the worst.”
She didn’t believe me.
Good.
Neither would I.
“I watched the videos,” I said. “I saw the paperwork. I heard the recordings.”
“And?”
“I know Daniel manipulated you.”
Vanessa’s face remained still.
“Did he?”
“He manipulated everyone.”
Howard looked at her.
“Do not respond.”
I leaned back.
“I know about Rebecca.”
That did it.
A blink.
Nothing more.
But enough.
“What about her?”
“She’s missing.”
Vanessa looked shocked.
Too shocked.
“Oh my God.”
I had once admired her acting.
Now I could see every seam.
“When did you last speak to Rebecca?”
“A week ago.”
Lie.
“About what?”
“Wedding arrangements.”
Another lie.
Howard interrupted.
“My client does not need to answer.”
Vanessa lifted a hand.
“It’s fine.”
Confidence.
She still believed she controlled the board.
I looked at her jaw.
No scar.
The woman in the photo had one.
“Did you have a sister named Victoria?”
Silence.
Howard turned toward her.
Vanessa’s face became unreadable.
“What did you say?”
“Victoria.”
She stood.
“This interview is over.”
I smiled.
That frightened her.
“Sit down.”
Howard stepped between us.
“Mr. Whitaker—”
“I’m not speaking to you.”
Vanessa stared at me.
“You’ve been digging through my childhood.”
“No.”
I held up my phone.
“Your childhood found me.”
I did not show the photograph.
Just let her think.
Vanessa sat slowly.
“My sister is dead.”
Grace had not told me that.
“When?”
“Twenty years ago.”
“How?”
“Car accident.”
“The one that scarred her?”
For the first time, Vanessa truly broke.
Her eyes widened.
Howard looked confused.
I leaned forward.
“You didn’t say she died in the accident.”
Vanessa recovered.
“She died later.”
“How much later?”
No answer.
“Where is she buried?”
“Enough.”
“Where?”
Howard stood.
“This conversation is terminated.”
I got up.
“Good.”
Vanessa watched me walk toward the door.
Then said,
“Evan.”
I turned.
Her voice was different.
Lower.
“You have no idea what Claire did.”
Everything inside me stopped.
Howard closed his eyes.
He knew she had made a mistake.
I walked back.
“What did you say?”
Vanessa smiled faintly.
“Your perfect dead wife wasn’t perfect.”
“Explain.”
“She ruined my family.”
“How?”
“You think Daniel invented everything?”
“I think Daniel belongs in prison.”
“Maybe.”
That surprised me.
Vanessa looked at the window.
“But it started with Claire.”
“Started what?”
“Our father.”
I frowned.
“Who was your father?”
“Martin Sloan.”
The name struck something buried in memory.
Foundation finance director.
Claire fired him eight years ago.
I had barely been involved.
“Your father worked for us.”
“He built that foundation.”
“He stole from it.”
Vanessa’s face twisted.
“That’s what Claire claimed.”
“What happened?”
“He was investigated.”
“Yes.”
“He killed himself.”
The room went silent.
I remembered Claire crying one night.
I had asked.
She said a former employee had died.
I never knew the name.
Vanessa stared at me.
“Victoria found him.”
I understood the car accident now.
Or thought I did.
“She broke down after that,” Vanessa continued. “Daniel blamed Claire. Rebecca blamed everybody. I tried to leave.”
“And yet here you are.”
Her eyes returned to me.
“You asked why I came into your life.”
“Yes.”
“Because I wanted to know whether Claire had destroyed us for nothing.”
“So you dated me?”
“At first.”
The words were almost honest.
Almost.
“And then?”
She looked away.
“I loved you.”
I felt nothing.
“What about my children?”
“I never wanted to hurt them.”
I thought about the slap.
The medication.
The videos.
“You have an interesting definition of hurt.”
“Daniel said we needed evidence.”
“False evidence.”
“He said you would never let me keep them if something happened.”
“If what happened?”
Silence.
“Vanessa.”
Her eyes filled.
“I don’t know.”
I stood.
“You’re lying.”
“Not about that.”
“Then tell me the truth.”
She looked toward Howard.
He shook his head.
Vanessa ignored him.
“Victoria contacted me three months ago.”
Grace had been right.
Alive.
“What did she want?”
“The emergency drive.”
“Claire’s drive.”
“Yes.”
“How did she know about it?”
“Rebecca.”
The room contracted.
Rebecca knew because Claire trusted her.
“Why did Victoria want it?”
“Because Claire kept proof against our father.”
“That doesn’t explain my children.”
Vanessa swallowed.
“Victoria said the drive contained something else.”
“What?”
“A list.”
“What list?”
“I don’t know.”
“Vanessa.”
“I don’t know!”
Her voice cracked.
“She said Claire had names of people Daniel worked with. Judges. Trustees. Hospital administrators.”
A corruption network.
“Why would that matter now?”
“Because Daniel wants the drive destroyed.”
“And Victoria?”
Vanessa whispered,
“Victoria wants it sold.”
“To whom?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why involve Sophie?”
She looked ashamed.
Finally.
“Leverage.”
My jaw tightened.
“You drugged a three-year-old for leverage.”
“I didn’t give him anything!”
“But you knew.”
She looked away.
“That’s not good enough.”
“I know.”
“You threatened Sophie.”
“I never planned to take her from you.”
“You filed paperwork to take her from me.”
“Daniel filed it.”
“With your cooperation.”
Silence.
I stepped toward her.
“You were going to make me choose.”
Her eyes lifted.
“Yes.”
“Between what?”
“The children…”
She swallowed.
“…and the foundation.”
I stared.
There it was.
The whole architecture.
If I surrendered control of the Whitaker Foundation, the accusations vanished.
If not, Daniel went forward with custody allegations.
They had built a weapon using my children.
“And the emergency drive?”
“Victoria believed you would trade it too.”
“She was wrong.”
“I told her that.”
Something about her expression bothered me.
“You’re afraid of Victoria.”
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“You should be too.”
I thought of Rebecca tied to a chair.
“What does she want now?”
“She won’t stop until she gets the drive.”
“Vanessa.”
“Yes?”
“You took it yesterday.”
Her face froze.
Sophie had seen her.
I watched every part of Vanessa’s expression collapse.
“I didn’t.”
“My daughter saw you.”
Vanessa whispered,
“That wasn’t me.”
The room became cold.
“What?”
“I wasn’t in the safe room yesterday.”
“Sophie says you were.”
“She saw Victoria.”
My chest tightened.
“Victoria was inside my house?”
Vanessa nodded.
“She has been before.”
Howard stared at his client.
“You never told me this.”
Vanessa ignored him.
“How does she enter?”
“I don’t know.”
“Security badge?”
“Sometimes.”
“Your clothes?”
Silence.
My pulse accelerated.
For four months, cameras had captured someone who looked like Vanessa abusing and manipulating my children.
I had assumed one woman.
What if there were two?
“Which videos are you?” I asked.
Vanessa’s eyes filled.
“I don’t know.”
My voice hardened.
“Which videos?”
“The first ones.”
“How many?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you strike Sophie before today?”
“No.”
“Threaten Caleb?”
“No.”
“Make Sophie repeat statements?”
Vanessa hesitated.
“Yes.”
My anger returned.
“So you were involved.”
“Yes.”
“But not all of it.”
“No.”
“How long has Victoria been here?”
“I realized two weeks ago.”
“Realized?”
“Sophie told me I was wearing the wrong perfume.”
I frowned.
“Victoria uses the same perfume?”
“No.”
“She uses Claire’s.”
Everything stopped.
“What?”
Vanessa’s voice fell.
“She found bottles in the safe room.”
I thought about Sophie seeking her mother’s scent.
Victoria had weaponized grief itself.
I wanted to break something.
Instead I asked,
“Where is Victoria now?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
My phone vibrated.
Another message.
A video this time.
Rebecca sat tied to the chair.
Victoria stepped into frame.
Same face as Vanessa.
Scar on her jaw.
Claire’s lavender perfume could not travel through a screen, but somehow I imagined it.
Victoria smiled at the camera.
“Hello, Evan.”
My hands tightened.
“I assume by now my sister has disappointed everyone.”
Behind her, Rebecca sobbed.
Victoria leaned closer.
“You have something that belongs to my family.”
I stared.
“The drive.”
She smiled.
“Midnight.”
A location appeared beneath the video.
An abandoned waterfront warehouse.
Marcus entered behind me and saw the screen.
“No.”
I looked at him.
“She has Rebecca.”
“It’s a trap.”
“Obviously.”
Victoria continued on the video.
“One drive for one sister.”
Vanessa stood.
“She’ll kill Rebecca anyway.”
I looked at her.
“How do you know?”
Vanessa’s face broke.
“Because she already killed Emily.”
Grace had entered behind Marcus.
She heard every word.
Her face drained white.
“What?”
Vanessa looked at her.
“I’m sorry.”
Grace started toward her.
Marcus caught Grace gently by the shoulders.
“What did you say?”
Vanessa cried now.
Real tears.
“She cut Emily’s brake line.”
Grace stopped fighting.
The room went silent.
“Why?” Grace whispered.
“Emily found out Victoria had been impersonating me.”
Grace stared at her.
“Doing what?”
Vanessa looked at me.
“Targeting families.”
My blood went cold.
Grace whispered,
“Daniel wasn’t working with Vanessa.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“No.”
May you like
Her next words changed everything again.
“He was working with Victoria.”
