Chapter 9 - The Child in VancouverI did not go to the ferry terminal alone.
Rebecca made that clear, Noah agreed, and Sergeant Park insisted that any meeting with Vanessa be handled as a controlled interview. In the end, Vanessa was persuaded to meet in a public café near the waterfront with law enforcement nearby.
The choice seemed to frighten her.
She arrived twenty minutes late, wearing a beige coat and oversized sunglasses. Her hair was pulled into a tight bun, and she kept glancing at the windows as if expecting someone to appear behind her.
When she sat down, she didn't order anything.
“How is Lily?” she asked.
I looked at her coldly.
“Don't pretend you care about my daughter.”
Vanessa lowered her eyes.
“I know what I did was wrong.”
“You helped my husband cheat on me.”
“Yes.”
“You sat in his car while he left me on the pavement.”
She swallowed.
“I thought he was going to take you to the hospital.”
“You heard me begging him.”
“I know.”
“Then don't ask me to feel sorry for you.”
She said nothing.
For the first time, I noticed how tired she looked. There were dark circles beneath her eyes, and her hands trembled around a paper napkin.
I didn't confuse that with innocence.
“Tell me about the child,” I said.
Vanessa stared at the table.
“His name is Ethan. He's four years old.”
I felt a strange pressure in my chest.
“Does his mother know about me?”
“I'm his mother.”
The words landed heavily.
I had imagined another woman, another betrayal, another piece of Grant's life hidden behind closed doors. I hadn't imagined a child who had grown up inside the same lies.
“Does he know Grant is married?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“He believes Grant works in Seattle and travels a lot. Grant visits when he can.”
“Does he support you?”
“At first. He paid our rent and covered Ethan's school fees. Then the money became irregular. He said the investment deal would solve everything.”
I thought of our unfinished nursery and my mother's medical bills.
“He told me we were nearly broke.”
Vanessa's laugh was bitter.
“He told me the same thing. Apparently, he has a different version of poverty for every woman.”
I didn't respond.
“Why did you help him?” I asked.
“Because I believed he was going to leave you. Because he promised me a future. Because he convinced me that you were only staying with him for money.”
I shook my head.
“I worked two jobs before I married him. I sold my grandmother's necklace to pay medical bills. He told you I was after his money?”
Vanessa looked genuinely ashamed.
“He told me your father had left you a substantial trust, and that you had hidden it from him.”
“That wasn't true.”
“I know that now.”
She reached into her handbag and removed a small flash drive.
“Grant gave me copies of the Vancouver proposal. He told me to take them to Meridian Atlantic. I thought they were ordinary investment documents. Then I realized they included confidential Whitaker shipping data.”
“Why didn't you report him?”
“Because the first time I questioned him, he showed me a document bearing my signature. It authorized a consulting payment I had never received. He said if I went to the police, he'd claim I was the one who had sold the information.”
I looked at the flash drive.
“What is on it?”
“Emails, payment instructions, drafts of the presentation, and a recorded conversation with the person who designed the scheme.”
“Who?”
Vanessa hesitated.
“Someone inside Whitaker Global.”
I stared at her.
Noah's own company might have been compromised.
“Give the flash drive to the police,” I said.
“I will. But there's something else you need to understand.”
She leaned forward.
“Grant didn't find your father's trust by accident. He was introduced to it by someone who knew exactly what those shares could do.”
“Who?”
“I don't know his real name. Grant called him Mr. Vale.”
A shadow passed behind her eyes.
“Mr. Vale told Grant that if he gained control of the trust, he could force Whitaker Global to sell its port holdings at a fraction of their value. Meridian Atlantic would make a fortune from the acquisition.”
“And the threats against Lily?”
Vanessa looked toward the window.
“I don't know who sent those messages. But I heard Grant arguing with Mr. Vale about the timing of the plan. Mr. Vale said your identity was useful only as long as you remained cooperative.”
My stomach turned.
I had never met this man, yet someone had decided my life could be reduced to a financial instrument.
“What else did Grant tell him?”
Vanessa's voice dropped almost to a whisper.
“He said the baby would make you easier to control.”
I stood so abruptly that my chair scraped across the floor.
She flinched.
I wanted to scream. I wanted to throw the coffee cup against the wall. Instead, I placed both hands on the table and forced myself to breathe.
“Give me the evidence.”
She pushed the flash drive toward me.
I did not touch it. Sergeant Park, waiting nearby with another detective, took possession of it under the agreed procedure.
Vanessa watched them leave.
“Will you ever forgive me?” she asked.
I looked at her.
“I don't know.”
She nodded slowly.
“Fair enough.”
I rose to leave, but she caught my wrist.
“One more thing. You need to check the records for the day your father died.”
My blood went cold.
“What does that have to do with Grant?”
Vanessa released me.
“Because Mr. Vale told Grant that your father's death had given them the opportunity they needed.”
I stared at her.
“My father died in a workplace accident.”
“I know.”
“Are you suggesting someone killed him?”
“No,” she said quickly. “I'm telling you what I heard. I don't know whether it's true.”
Outside the café, Noah was waiting beside his security vehicle. He took one look at my face and asked what had happened.
I told him everything.
When I mentioned Mr. Vale, he stopped walking.
“Describe him.”
“Vanessa says she's never seen his face clearly. She believes he has been working through intermediaries.”
Noah's expression darkened.
“Then we may be dealing with someone who knows how to hide behind corporate structures.”
My phone rang.
The hospital.
I answered so quickly that I nearly dropped it.
A nurse told me Lily was stable, but someone had attempted to access her medical records using my personal information.
The person had claimed to be her father.
Grant.
May you like
And before the hospital blocked the request, he had asked for something no father should ever need to ask in secret.
Lily's exact discharge date and the identity of the person authorized to take her home.
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