Chapter 11 - THE WOMAN BEHIND THE CAMERA
Vanessa arrived at Maya’s attorney’s office wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap.
Naomi almost refused to let her inside.
Maya did not.
Vanessa sat across from the woman she had humiliated and removed her sunglasses.
She looked exhausted.
“I know you hate me.”
Maya’s expression remained flat.
“I don’t know you well enough to hate you.”
That hurt more than Vanessa expected.
“I was sleeping with your husband.”
“I know.”
“For eight months.”
“I know.”
“He told me you two were basically separated.”
Maya almost laughed.
“We shared a bedroom.”
Vanessa looked down.
“I figured that out eventually.”
“Yet you stayed.”
“Yes.”
There was no excuse.
Vanessa placed her phone on the table.
“I came because Olivia is talking to Adrian Vale.”
Maya stopped breathing for a second.
Naomi leaned forward.
“How do you know?”
“I heard her.”
Vanessa opened an audio file.
Olivia’s voice filled the room.
I found her.
My son married her.
Then Adrian’s voice.
What does she know?
Maya gripped the chair.
Vanessa played another recording.
This one was Richard.
If Maya gets confirmed as the Vale heir, I’m still legally her husband.
A divorce takes time.
There has to be a way to claim part of it.
Naomi’s eyes narrowed.
Richard continued on the recording.
And if she fights me, I’ll fight for Lily until she gives me what I want.
Vanessa stopped the audio.
Maya’s face had gone pale.
“He said that yesterday?”
Vanessa nodded.
“After he grabbed me.”
Maya looked at her.
“Did he hurt you?”
Vanessa rubbed her wrist unconsciously.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters.”
The room went quiet.
Vanessa’s eyes filled.
“I laughed when he shoved your face into that cake.”
“Yes.”
“I posted it.”
“Yes.”
“I thought you were weak.”
Maya held her gaze.
“So did he.”
Vanessa pushed the phone across the table.
“There are nine recordings.”
“Take all of them.”
“Why?”
“Because I helped him hurt you.”
“And now I’m helping you stop him.”
Naomi immediately arranged to preserve the recordings properly.
One file was especially important.
Olivia was discussing the night Catherine disappeared.
Her words were faint but clear.
I changed the meeting location just like Adrian told me.
She never should have been on that road.
Maya listened twice.
Grant listened once.
Then he walked out of the room before anyone saw his face.
By evening, federal investigators had been contacted through counsel.
Julian warned Maya that things would move quickly now.
Maya looked at Vanessa’s phone sealed inside an evidence pouch.
A woman who had once recorded Maya’s humiliation for entertainment had accidentally recorded the beginning of Richard’s destruction.
But Vanessa wasn’t finished.
“There’s something else.”
Maya turned.
Vanessa swallowed.
“Richard has a key.”
“To what?”
“Your mother’s old storage unit.”
Maya froze.
“I don’t have a storage unit.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“According to Olivia, you do.”
May you like
“And Richard is going there tonight.”
—
