I watched the color disappear from his face.
“What is it?” Vanessa demanded.
Daniel folded the pages.
“Nothing.”
She snatched them from his hand.
He tried to grab them back, but she stepped away.
Her eyes widened.
“Oh my God.”
“What?” I asked.
Vanessa looked at me.
“It’s a lawsuit.”
Daniel reached for the papers.
“Give me that.”
She kept reading.
“Fraud allegations. Misrepresentation. Breach of contract.”
Each word landed harder than the last.
I stared at Daniel.
“Daniel?”
“It’s business nonsense.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“This says $480,000.”
My stomach dropped.
Nearly half a million dollars.
Suddenly his desperation about the house made sense.
“You wanted my house to cover this.”
“No.”
“You thought you owned half of it.”
“No.”
“You thought you could force a sale.”
He said nothing.
Vanessa lowered the papers.
“Who is Mason Ridge Holdings?”
Daniel’s eyes moved toward the floor.
I knew immediately.
The cruise.
The apartment.
The fabricated investment properties.
They weren’t separate lies.
They were pieces of one larger structure.
“You invested their money,” I said.
Daniel looked at me sharply.
I continued.
“You told someone you had assets.”
His silence confirmed it.
Vanessa stared at him.
“Did you use company contacts?”
“No.”
“Daniel.”
“No.”
His phone buzzed again.
This time I saw the fear immediately.
He removed it, glanced at the message, and locked the screen.
But Vanessa had already seen the sender.
“Sabrina again.”
She stepped toward him.
“Show me.”
“No.”
“Show me the message.”
“It’s private.”
She laughed.
“Private? You brought me to your pregnant—”
“Former partner.”
“Wife,” I corrected.
Vanessa’s face hardened.
“Your wife’s house, carrying luggage from a four-month vacation you told me was our new beginning, while apparently being sued for nearly half a million dollars, and now you want privacy?”
Daniel’s expression became cold.
It was a face I recognized.
He used it whenever charm failed.
“You knew I was married when we met.”
Vanessa froze.
“No.”
“Yes, you did.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“You saw my personnel file.”
“I don’t have access to personnel files.”
“You saw photographs.”
“What photographs?”
“The charity gala.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“You told me Helen was your sister.”
That almost made me laugh again.
“Sister?”
Daniel turned toward me.
“Don’t.”
I looked at Vanessa.
“He told you I was his sister?”
“Yes.”
“Interesting.”
Daniel grabbed his suitcase handle.
“This is pointless.”
“Where are you going?” Vanessa asked.
“A hotel.”
“You told me we were staying here.”
“That was before Helen became irrational.”
I stared at him.
“In my grandmother’s house.”
“Our house.”
“The trust’s house.”
He pulled the suitcase toward the door.
Then someone knocked.
Three slow knocks.
Daniel stopped.
I wasn’t expecting anyone.
