Chapter 3: The Price of Being Chosen
Vanessa didn't scream.
That surprised me.
She simply stood beneath the ballroom chandelier, one hand resting on her pregnant stomach, staring at the giant screen.
"My father guaranteed twelve million dollars?"" she whispered.
Daniel walked toward her.
"Vanessa, listen to me.""
"Answer the question.""
"It's complicated.""
She laughed once.
A small, broken sound.
"You told me your company was worth forty million.""
"It is.""
"Then why does my father have to guarantee your loans?""
Daniel glanced toward the guests.
"Not here.""
Vanessa stepped away from him.
"Stop saying that!""
Her voice echoed through the ballroom.
A waiter nearly dropped his tray.
She looked at me.
"Did you know about this?""
I considered my answer.
"I knew Daniel had taken out loans. I didn't know your father had signed a personal guarantee until my attorney found the document.""
Vanessa looked back at Daniel.
"You told me Emily was stealing from you.""
He rubbed his forehead.
"She is manipulating everything.""
"Did you use my father's money?""
"I was going to explain.""
"When?""
He said nothing.
She shook her head.
"After the wedding? After the baby was born? After my father lost his house?""
The guests were no longer pretending not to listen.
Daniel lowered his voice.
"Your father is an experienced businessman. He understood the agreement.""
Vanessa's eyes filled with tears.
"He trusted you because you were going to marry me.""
I watched Daniel's expression change.
For the first time, he seemed genuinely angry with her.
"Don't make this about us.""
"How can it not be about us?""
"Because I built everything for our future!""
I almost interrupted.
Then I noticed something.
Vanessa wasn't looking at him anymore.
She was looking at the screen.
A new document had appeared.
It was a photograph of a bank transfer.
The recipient account belonged to a company registered in the Cayman Islands.
The amount was $3.4 million.
The transfer date was eleven months earlier.
Vanessa pointed toward it.
"What's that?""
Daniel turned.
His face changed immediately.
"Turn off the screen.""
Mr. Collins looked toward the technician.
"Please leave it.""
The document remained visible.
I stepped forward.
"That's one of the transactions we're investigating.""
Daniel spun toward me.
"You don't know what you're talking about.""
"Then explain it.""
"Those funds were used for international expansion.""
"Really?""
I opened my clutch and removed a printed statement.
"Because the company receiving the money was incorporated under your mother's name. And according to the bank records, the funds were transferred into a private account controlled by you.""
Daniel stared at me.
I continued.
"Three weeks later, you used part of that money to purchase a luxury apartment in Manhattan.""
Vanessa's face went pale.
"The penthouse?""
I nodded.
"The one Daniel told you belonged to him?""
She slowly turned toward Daniel.
"Is that apartment even yours?""
He didn't answer.
I looked at her.
"Legally, the property was purchased through a holding company funded with money taken from Harrington Global.""
Vanessa covered her mouth.
For a moment, I saw the woman I might have become if I had continued believing Daniel's promises.
A woman standing in an expensive room, surrounded by beautiful things, slowly discovering that none of them belonged to her.
Then Daniel did something I hadn't expected.
He pointed at me.
"She's lying!""
The sudden shout made several guests flinch.
"She's been planning this since the accident! She wants revenge because I didn't spend the rest of my life pretending her face wasn't damaged!""
The words cut through the ballroom.
Silence followed.
Even Vanessa stopped moving.
Daniel continued, his voice growing louder.
"I stayed with her! I supported her! I paid for doctors, treatments, everything! And now she wants to destroy me because I moved on!""
I felt my fingers tighten around my clutch.
For a second, the ballroom disappeared.
I was back in the hospital.
The smell of antiseptic.
The heavy bandages.
The mirror I had been too frightened to face.
Daniel sitting beside my bed, holding my hand.
"You saved my life," he had whispered.
"I'd do it again," I had answered.
He kissed my forehead.
"I'll spend the rest of mine making sure you never regret it.""
The memory faded.
I looked at him.
"Do you remember the night of the accident?""
He scoffed.
"Of course I do.""
"Do you remember what happened when the fire reached the passenger side?""
He looked away.
"You pulled me out.""
"No. You were trapped. I climbed across the center console because your door wouldn't open.
I broke the passenger window with my elbow. I dragged you out while the gasoline was burning beneath the car.""
"Emily, don't.""
"You were unconscious. I was screaming your name. I could barely breathe.""
My voice remained steady.
"And when the fire reached my face, I didn't let go of you.""
Nobody spoke.
I stepped closer.
"You once told me that I saved your life.""
Daniel's expression hardened.
"I did appreciate that.""
"Did you?""
He swallowed.
I pointed toward the scars on my cheek.
"Because when I came home from the hospital, you told me that looking at me reminded you of the accident.""
He closed his eyes.
"You know that's not what I meant.""
"Then what did you mean?""
He had no answer.
I continued.
"You stopped touching me. You stopped introducing me as your wife. You moved another woman into my home. And when I asked about the company, you told everyone I was mentally unstable.""
Vanessa looked at him with open disbelief.
"Daniel, you told me she was obsessed with you.""
He turned toward her.
"Vanessa, please.""
"You said she was refusing to accept the divorce.""
"We are going to get divorced.""
I smiled sadly.
"That's what you keep forgetting, Daniel.""
I took the final document from my clutch.
"We aren't divorced.""
I handed it to Mr. Collins.
He placed it on the table and opened it.
"This is the original marital property agreement," he explained.
"It contains a clause concerning the company's founding assets and any unauthorized transfer of jointly held property.""
Daniel frowned.
"What clause?""
I looked directly at him.
"The one you insisted we include because you were afraid I'd leave you with nothing if the company failed.""
He stared at me.
I remembered that conversation too.
We had been sitting in our first apartment, surrounded by unpaid bills and cold coffee.
Daniel had been worried about losing everything.
I had suggested the agreement to protect both of us.
He had laughed and called it unnecessary.
Then, surprisingly, he signed it.
He never imagined he would become the person it protected me from.
Mr. Collins turned to the final page.
"Under this agreement, Mrs. Harrington retains her fifty-one percent voting interest and has the right to seek immediate removal of any executive found to have committed material financial misconduct.""
Daniel's lips parted.
I leaned toward him.
"Congratulations on your new company, Daniel.""
He looked confused.
I smiled.
"You're about to become an employee again.""
His face turned crimson.
"You can't fire me!""
"Actually, I can.""
"You wouldn't dare!""
Mr. Collins placed another document on the table.
"The board has already scheduled an emergency meeting for tomorrow morning. Several directors have agreed to attend.""
Daniel looked toward the guests.
He was searching for someone.
Someone powerful.
Someone who would stand beside him.
Then a man near the entrance raised his hand.
"Mr. Harrington?""
Daniel turned.
It was Richard Cole.
Vanessa's father.
He walked into the ballroom with two attorneys beside him.
Vanessa's eyes widened.
"Dad?""
Richard didn't look at his daughter.
He looked directly at Daniel.
"I just received a call from my bank. They informed me that the collateral agreement I signed is under investigation.""
Daniel straightened.
"Richard, I can explain.""
Richard removed his glasses.
"Don't bother.""
He placed a thick envelope on the table.
Then he turned toward me.
"Mrs. Harrington, I believe we need to speak.""
I nodded.
"Of course.""
He glanced at Daniel one last time.
"Because there's something you should know about the man you married.""
My stomach tightened.
Richard opened the envelope and removed a photograph.
It showed Daniel standing outside a hospital two years earlier.
Beside him was a woman I recognized.
My former surgeon.
But the date printed beneath the photograph was impossible.
It was taken three weeks after my accident.
May you like
And on the back, someone had written a sentence in black ink:
*HE DIDN'T JUST LEAVE YOU BECAUSE OF YOUR SCARS. HE WAS HIDING WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE THE FIRE.*
