Chapter 5 - The Fake Future
The one Vanessa had been holding like a leash.
For six weeks, Vanessa had claimed she was pregnant.
She told Daniel the night after he almost ended the engagement.
Not dramatically.
Not with joy.
With tears.
“I was scared to tell you because of your mother,” she said.
Because of your mother.
That phrase poisoned everything.
Daniel wanted to believe the pregnancy was real.
He also wanted to believe the woman carrying his child could not be cruel.
So he stayed.
He asked for medical appointments.
Vanessa delayed.
He asked for lab results.
She said she wanted privacy.
He asked to tell Eleanor gently.
Vanessa said, “Not until she stops attacking me.”
The pregnancy became a weapon wrapped in vulnerability.
Now she used it again.
“I am carrying your baby,” Vanessa said, voice shaking with fury. “And you’re choosing her over me.”
Daniel looked at Chloe.
Chloe started sobbing.
Vanessa turned.
“Stop crying.”
Daniel’s voice dropped.
“Chloe. Is there a pregnancy?”
Vanessa lunged toward her.
One security guard stepped between them.
Chloe cried harder.
“I’m sorry.”
Vanessa shouted, “Shut up!”
Daniel did not move.
“Chloe.”
Chloe looked at him.
“She isn’t pregnant.”
The garden went silent.
Even the birds seemed to stop.
Vanessa’s mouth opened.
No sound came.
Chloe wiped her face with both hands.
“She bought the test from me.”
Daniel stared at her.
“What?”
“My cousin was pregnant. Vanessa asked me to get a positive test. She said it was temporary. She said you were going to leave because of Eleanor and she needed time.”
Vanessa’s face twisted.
“You little idiot.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
For one second.
Only one.
When he opened them, all the shock had burned away.
What remained was colder.
“Get her out of my mother’s garden.”
Vanessa stepped back.
“Daniel, listen to me.”
“No.”
“You don’t understand what she’s done to me.”
“My mother?”
“She ruined everything. Every time I tried to plan our life, she sat there judging me with that pathetic saint face.”
Daniel looked at the cut hair.
“You hated her because she saw you.”
Vanessa’s eyes filled with sudden tears.
Too late.
“She was going to turn you against me.”
“You did that yourself.”
The security guards moved closer.
Vanessa looked toward the mansion.
“You can’t throw me out.”
“I can.”
“My things are inside.”
“They’ll be packed and sent.”
“You’ll regret this.”
Daniel stared at her.
“No. I regret yesterday. And every day before it when I asked my mother to be patient with you.”
That landed.
Not because Vanessa cared about Eleanor.
Because Daniel had stopped speaking like someone she could bargain with.
She turned toward Chloe.
“You recorded everything?”
Chloe nodded weakly.
Vanessa’s face changed again.
Real fear now.
Not of Daniel.
Of proof.
The estate cameras were discovered an hour later.
Vanessa had known about some of them.
The obvious ones.
Front gate.
Garage.
Main hall.
She did not know Daniel had installed additional elder-care cameras in exterior garden zones after Eleanor’s stroke, with her consent, so staff could help if she fell during wheelchair therapy.
The rose garden had three angles.
One by the fountain.
One above the terrace door.
One under the wisteria trellis.
The cameras had captured everything.
Vanessa wheeling Eleanor into the garden.
Chloe laughing and asking, “Should I start now?”
Vanessa saying, “Wait until she cries.”
Eleanor pleading, “Please don’t cut it. Daniel’s father loved my hair.”
Vanessa answering, “Daniel’s father is dead, and you should have learned to let go.”
The first cut.
Eleanor sobbing.
Vanessa holding her hair tighter.
Chloe zooming in.
Daniel arriving.
The wrist grab.
May you like
The fake pregnancy unraveling.
Everything.
