Chapter 17 - Vanessa’s Real Motive
Vanessa had known.
Not just about the Ashbourne trust.
About Gerald’s final decision.
Clara explained that Gerald became ill two years earlier.
Cancer changed him.
Fear changed him more.
He began reviewing every crime he had committed for Richard.
Every stolen account.
Every forged document.
Every life he ruined.
“He contacted me.”
Clara said.
“He asked forgiveness.”
Emily looked at her.
“Did you give it?”
“No.”
The answer was immediate.
“But I listened.”
Gerald admitted that Vale Capital had been built largely with money stolen from Clara’s trust.
He wanted to restore the stolen ownership.
Emily would receive controlling interest after his death.
“But Vanessa inherited the company.”
“Because Gerald died before he signed the final transfer.”
Clara looked at Daniel.
“Or that’s what Vanessa believes.”
Daniel frowned.
“What do you mean?”
Clara walked to a cabinet.
She removed a sealed envelope.
Inside was a notarized document.
Gerald’s final amendment.
Signed.
Witnessed.
Completed.
Vanessa had never known it existed.
Emily read the percentage.
Fifty-one percent of Vale Capital Group.
Transferred to the biological daughter of Clara Ashbourne.
Effective upon identity confirmation.
Emily stared.
“I control her company.”
“Yes.”
Daniel exhaled slowly.
Now Vanessa’s desperation made sense.
The necklace.
The public humiliation.
The rush to remove Emily before midnight.
If Emily established her identity, Vanessa would not only lose Daniel’s company influence.
She would lose control of her own family empire.
Emily sat quietly.
Then her phone rang.
Vanessa.
She answered.
“You found her.”
Emily looked at Clara.
“Yes.”
Vanessa breathed slowly.
“Then you know.”
“Yes.”
Silence.
Emily asked, “Why did you slap me?”
Vanessa laughed once.
“I wanted you humiliated.”
“Why?”
“Because my father died saying your name.”
Emily froze.
Vanessa continued.
“He barely recognized me at the end.”
Her voice cracked.
“But he remembered you.”
Emily did not respond.
“He kept saying, ‘Find Emily. Fix it.’”
Vanessa’s anger trembled through the phone.
“I spent my entire life becoming the daughter he could respect.”
A pause.
“And he died trying to give everything to a woman he never met.”
Emily finally understood.
The hatred was not about the necklace.
Not even about the company.
It was grief twisted into resentment.
Vanessa whispered, “You took my father from me without ever entering the room.”
Emily answered quietly.
“No.”
“Don’t.”
“He chose his guilt over you.”
Vanessa went silent.
“That wasn’t my choice.”
Emily continued.
“And framing me didn’t bring him back.”
Vanessa’s breathing changed.
Then she said something that made Emily stand.
“You’re right.”
A pause.
“So I’m done framing you.”
The line went dead.
Daniel looked at her.
“What did she mean?”
Emily’s phone buzzed.
A photograph appeared.
May you like
Margaret.
Bound to a chair inside the west library.
