Chapter 3: The Man Vanessa Buried
The photograph showed Vanessa outside a downtown hotel with a tall, silver-haired man.
His arm circled her waist, and she was holding a bank receipt dated three days earlier.
Daniel enlarged the image.
“Who is Victor Hale?”
Vanessa’s hand dropped to her side.
“Someone I knew before you.”
“Knew?” Daniel turned the screen toward her.
“He sent you a photograph of the two of you together, and you sent him fifty thousand dollars.”
Julian stepped closer.
“Why does that name sound familiar?”
“Because you’ve heard it before,” Vanessa snapped.
“Now give me my phone.”
Daniel held it behind his back.
“Tell us the truth.”
“The truth will destroy this family.”
“You already used a wrecking ball.”
Maya stood slowly, wiping her face with both hands.
“Was the car meant to keep Julian quiet?”
“No,” Julian said.
“I swear I knew nothing.”
Vanessa pointed at him.
“You wanted that car for two years.”
“I wanted a car.
I didn’t ask you to empty Maya’s account.”
“She had enough.”
“She has nothing!” Daniel said.
Vanessa’s composure cracked.
“Maya always gets everything.
The praise, the scholarships, the attention—everything.”
Maya stared at her.
“You took my future because I worked hard?”
“I was trying to protect my son.”
“From what?” Julian asked.
Vanessa looked at him, but no words came.
Daniel opened the message history.
Most of it had been deleted, yet one line remained beneath the photograph: You promised Julian would know who his real father is once I was paid.
Julian read it over Daniel’s shoulder.
The keys slipped from his fingers and struck the patio stones.
“What does that mean?” he whispered.
Vanessa closed her eyes.
“Julian, please.”
“What does it mean?”
Daniel’s voice became quiet.
“Vanessa, answer him.”
She gripped the edge of the table.
“Victor and I were together before I met Daniel.”
Julian shook his head.
“That isn’t what the message says.”
“You were six months old when Daniel met me.
He loved you immediately.”
Daniel stopped breathing for a moment.
“You told me Julian’s father had disappeared before he was born.”
“He did.”
“Then why is he sending you hotel photographs?”
Vanessa lifted her chin.
“He came back.”
Julian backed away from her.
“Is Victor my biological father?”
“Yes.”
The single word left Julian staring at the ground.
Daniel reached for him, but Julian raised one hand.
“Did Dad know?”
“No,” Vanessa said.
“He raised me for nineteen years, and you let another man demand money from Maya?”
“It was complicated.”
Maya gave a broken laugh.
“That’s what you call it?”
Vanessa grabbed her purse from the chair.
“I’m leaving until everyone can speak calmly.”
“You’re not taking the car,” Daniel said.
“It belongs to Julian.”
Julian kicked the keys toward her.
“Then take it back.”
Vanessa flinched as they stopped beside her shoe.
A car door slammed beyond the hedge.
Heavy footsteps crossed the driveway, and a man’s voice called from the side gate.
“Vanessa?
May you like
You said they wouldn’t find out until we were gone.”
Victor Hale stepped onto the patio carrying two airline tickets.
