Chapter 4 - THE GREENHOUSE CONFRONTATION
The glass walls of the estate greenhouse were clouded with morning humidity. I walked through the rows of orchids, the fake passports heavy in my tuxedo jacket.
Vanessa stood at the center of the room, her custom wedding gown trailing in the dirt. She wasn't playing the embarrassed bride anymore. Her posture was rigid, her jaw set.
“You ruined everything,” she sneered. “Over a bratty child.”
“Who are you?” I asked, throwing the three passports onto the potting table between us. “Sarah Jenkins? Maria Lopez? Which one is the real you?”
Vanessa barely looked at the passports. She let out a dry, humorless laugh. “I’m the woman who was going to save you from your own stupidity, Nathaniel. You give away money to charities, you overpay your pathetic staff. You needed a partner who understands preservation of wealth.”
“By framing single mothers for theft?” I countered, stepping closer.
“She’s a leech!” Vanessa snapped. “They all are. They look at your money and want a piece. I just sped up the process to get rid of her.”
“You’re broke, aren’t you?” I realized, the puzzle pieces clicking into place. “The country club memberships, the designer clothes. It was all a front. You needed my trusts to pay off your own debts.”
Vanessa smiled coldly. She reached into the bodice of her wedding dress and pulled out a folded piece of heavy stock paper. She slid it across the table.
“Read it, darling,” she said.
I opened the document. It was a pre-nuptial contract amendment. I recognized my own signature at the bottom.
“I slipped it into the pile of real estate contracts you signed last night,” Vanessa said, her eyes gleaming. “You were so tired, you didn’t even read the headers. It stipulates that if you cancel the wedding on the day of the ceremony, a penalty of ten million dollars is instantly transferred to my offshore account for emotional damages and breach of promise.”
I stared at the paper. She had planned this down to the minute.
“So,” Vanessa purred, stepping around the table and trailing a finger down my lapel. “We are going to walk back into that ballroom. We are going to say our vows. And you are going to fire Carol Bennett. If you don't, I leave with ten million dollars, and I hand the police the tape of Carol stealing your mother’s rosary anyway.”
She thought she had me trapped.
May you like
But she didn't know what I was holding in my left pocket.
“You made one mistake, Vanessa,” I said softly.
