“Were you sleeping with my husband?” I asked.
Vanessa looked down.
“Yes.”
The answer hurt despite everything else.
“For how long?”
“Four months.”
“Six,” I corrected. “The hotel charges began in January.”
“The first two months were meetings.”
“At hotels?”
“Marcus insisted.”
I almost laughed. “That is convenient.”
“It is also true.”
She admitted the affair began after weeks of private meetings concerning Richard’s records. Daniel was frightened, angry, and desperate to learn why Northstar had reappeared. Vanessa had been helping because Margaret suffered from dementia and could no longer explain everything she knew.
“We crossed a line,” Vanessa said. “There is no excuse.”
“You laughed about me.”
Her face lost color.
“I heard the message.”
Vanessa closed her eyes.
“She’ll never leave,” I repeated. “Claire has no money, no career, and nowhere to go.”
“I wanted Daniel to stop postponing decisions. I was cruel.”
“You were accurate about what he believed.”
