CHAPTER 7: VANESSA’S LAST WARNING
For the first time in my life...
I saw Vanessa Hart look afraid.
Not angry.
Not arrogant.
Not the perfectly controlled woman who could smile in front of cameras while destroying someone behind closed doors.
Afraid.
She stood in the middle of the archive room, holding the photograph with both hands.
The same woman who had walked onto the red carpet wearing my necklace.
The same woman who had cut my dress and tried to humiliate me in front of everyone.
Now she looked like someone who had just watched her entire world collapse.
“Where did you get that?”
Mr. Bellamy’s voice was low.
Almost a whisper.
Vanessa looked at him.
“You knew.”
A painful silence followed.
“You knew all these years.”
Mr. Bellamy didn’t answer.
And somehow, that hurt her more than any confession.
Vanessa looked down at the photograph again.
Her fingers tightened around the edges.
“I found this hidden inside my father’s old apartment.”
My eyes moved to the picture.
My mother.
Vanessa’s father.
And me.
A newborn baby.
Three people connected by a secret nobody wanted revealed.
I looked at Vanessa.
“Why are you showing me this?”
She laughed softly.
But there was no cruelty in it this time.
Only exhaustion.
“Because I finally realized something.”
She looked at the necklace around my neck.
The one she had stolen.
“The thing I spent my whole life protecting…”
She swallowed.
“Was never mine.”
The words shocked me.
Because this was not the Vanessa I knew.
The Vanessa I knew never admitted losing.
Never apologized.
Never showed weakness.
“What happened to you?”
I asked.
She looked at me.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then she said:
“You really don’t remember, do you?”
My eyebrows tightened.
“Remember what?”
Vanessa stepped closer.
“When we were children.”
I frowned.
“We barely knew each other.”
“That’s what they wanted you to believe.”
The room went silent.
Mr. Bellamy looked away.
I noticed.
And that made my stomach twist.
“Explain.”
Vanessa took a deep breath.
“When we were little, your grandmother didn’t treat me like an heir.”
A pause.
“She treated me like a replacement.”
The word hung in the air.
Replacement.
“What does that mean?”
Vanessa looked at the photograph.
“It means Eleanor Hart already knew who the real heir was.”
Her eyes met mine.
“You.”
I froze.
“But then why did she raise you as the successor?”
Vanessa smiled sadly.
“Because she needed someone the world could see.”
She touched her own chest.
“Someone who could stand in front of cameras.”
“Someone who could take the pressure.”
Her voice became bitter.
“And someone who could be blamed if everything went wrong.”
I stared at her.
For years, I thought Vanessa hated me because she was jealous.
But maybe...
She was trapped too.
“What are you saying?”
Vanessa looked at Mr. Bellamy.
“Tell her.”
He remained silent.
“Tell her what happened the night Isabella disappeared.”
My heart stopped.
My mother.
The name alone made my chest tighten.
Mr. Bellamy closed his eyes.
“I promised Eleanor.”
Vanessa’s voice became sharper.
“And Eleanor is gone.”
A pause.
“So who are you protecting now?”
The room became painfully quiet.
Finally...
Mr. Bellamy spoke.
“Your mother discovered the financial records.”
I listened carefully.
“She discovered that someone had been using Hart Jewelry to move stolen diamonds through illegal channels.”
My eyes widened.
“Someone inside the company?”
He nodded.
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Mr. Bellamy looked at Vanessa.
Then at me.
“I don’t know.”
Vanessa immediately shook her head.
“That’s a lie.”
Everyone looked at her.
“You do know.”
Mr. Bellamy’s expression changed.
Vanessa stepped forward.
“You knew my father wasn’t dead.”
My breath caught.
Everyone froze.
“What?”
I looked at Vanessa.
“What did you just say?”
She looked at me.
“My father didn’t die.”
The room felt like it stopped breathing.
“Everyone believed he died in a car accident.”
She laughed bitterly.
“But that was the story they created.”
My voice became quieter.
“Where is he?”
Vanessa looked down.
“I don’t know.”
That answer confused me.
“You just said he wasn’t dead.”
“He wasn’t.”
She looked at the photograph.
“But someone made sure nobody would ever find him.”
A cold feeling moved through me.
“Who?”
Vanessa didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, she handed me the photograph.
On the back was handwriting.
A date.
And a message.
My hands shook as I read it.
“If anything happens to us, protect her. She is the only one who can expose them.”
My heart pounded.
“Who wrote this?”
Vanessa looked at me.
“My father.”
A pause.
“And the ‘her’ he was talking about…”
She pointed at me.
“Was you.”
I stared at the photograph.
My parents weren’t abandoning me.
They were protecting me.
But from who?
A sound suddenly came from outside the archive room.
Footsteps.
Multiple footsteps.
Mr. Bellamy’s face changed.
“We need to leave.”
“Why?”
He moved toward the door.
“Because someone knows we found the documents.”
The handle slowly turned.
Someone was trying to open the door.
Vanessa stepped back.
For once, she looked at me like an ally.
Not an enemy.
“Listen to me.”
I looked at her.
“If you want to survive…”
The door shook.
“You need to stop trusting everyone in this family.”
Another удар hit the door.
Harder.
Mr. Bellamy grabbed the old folder.
“Now!”
The door began opening.
A dark figure appeared in the gap.
Vanessa whispered something that made my blood freeze.
“The person who destroyed your family…”
She looked toward the doorway.
“Is standing right there.”
The door opened completely.
And the person who stepped inside...
Was someone I never expected.
Someone who had spent the entire night pretending to protect me.
Someone I thought was on my side.
My own lawyer.
And in his hand...
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Was the missing original will of my grandmother.
TO BE CONTINUED...
