Chapter 7 - Vanessa Makes Her Move
By noon, Vanessa had turned the story against Emily.
Three guests from the ballroom received messages claiming Emily had attacked Vanessa because she was jealous.
By evening, gossip pages had begun describing the incident as a “ballroom scandal.”
Emily's phone wouldn't stop.
She turned it off.
Adrian found her sitting outside her small apartment.
“You shouldn't be here.”
She looked up.
“That's becoming your favorite sentence.”
He sat beside her.
“I can make the calls stop.”
“I don't want you buying my silence.”
“I wouldn't.”
“Then what would you do?”
“Tell the truth.”
Emily looked at him.
“And if the truth makes me look bad?”
“Then I'll still tell it.”
That answer surprised her.
She studied him.
“You really don't like Vanessa.”
Adrian looked away.
“I loved who I thought she was.”
Emily said nothing.
“She became different once she realized my grandfather's approval mattered more than mine.”
“Why?”
“Because Frank controls the family foundation.”
Emily remembered the ledger.
“So the money?”
Adrian nodded.
“She wants control of the foundation.”
Emily stared at him.
“And you?”
“I don't care about the foundation.”
Frank's voice came from behind them.
“I do.”
They turned.
Frank stood at the gate.
He looked tired.
“But not because of the money,” he said.
He handed Adrian an envelope.
“Read this.”
Adrian opened it.
Inside was a letter from a charity director.
Vanessa had already contacted them.
She had promised them funding.
Funding she did not have authority to release.
Emily looked at Adrian.
“She wasn't just pretending to be family.”
“No,” he said.
“She was already making promises in your name.”
Frank nodded.
May you like
“And someone inside our organization helped her.”
That changed everything.
