Chapter 13 - VANESSA FINALLY ADMITTED WHAT SHE HAD DONEHer attorney negotiated cooperation in several civil and regulatory investigations.
The nonprofit found she had used donor information outside authorized purposes.
Some business referrals generated fees to her firm.
Whether every transaction violated law depended on details.
But enough policy violations existed for serious professional consequences.
She lost her position.
Licensing review followed.
Civil claims.
Separate from family misconduct.
Then came the personal admissions.
She had visited Emily nine times.
Asked about the donor file.
Told Emily Ryan was moving on.
Suggested Lily was better without an impaired mother.
Carried an invalid separation acknowledgment to Ryan.
Intercepted notice that the divorce proceeding was stayed.
She did not tell Ryan Emily had begun consistently asking for Lily.
Why?
Because by then Ryan and Vanessa were in love.
Or thought they were.
Vanessa said:
“I believed if Emily came back, I would lose everything.”
That explained fear.
Did not excuse conduct.
Her apology to Emily eventually said:
I used your cognitive vulnerability to influence what you believed about your marriage and your daughter.
Good.
I wanted access to records you had collected about me, and later I wanted Ryan. Those motives overlapped until I stopped treating you as a person and started treating your recovery as a threat.
Accurate.
May you like
Emily did not answer.
She was not required to.
