Chapter 5 - The Woman Vanessa Tried to Erase
The next morning, Daniel drove Emily away from the mansion.
Not because she was in danger.
Because he needed answers.
They stopped at an old neighborhood on the edge of the city.
Emily looked around.
“This is where Vanessa grew up?”
Daniel nodded.
“I found the address in my father’s records.”
The house was abandoned.
Broken windows.
Faded paint.
Nothing like the mansion Vanessa now controlled.
They entered carefully.
Inside, dust covered everything.
But someone had been there recently.
Daniel noticed immediately.
“Someone searched this place.”
Emily looked around.
“Why?”
“Because they were looking for the same thing we are.”
They searched room by room.
Then Emily found something.
A small wooden box hidden beneath the floor.
Inside were photographs.
Letters.
Newspaper clippings.
She picked one up.
Her eyes widened.
It was Vanessa.
But younger.
Much younger.
Standing beside another woman.
The headline read:
LOCAL BUSINESS OWNER ACCUSED OF FRAUD AFTER MYSTERIOUS COMPANY COLLAPSE
Daniel took the article.
“The woman beside Vanessa…”
He looked closer.
“She was my father’s former business partner.”
Emily looked at him.
“What happened to her?”
Daniel read the article.
“She disappeared after the scandal.”
“Disappeared?”
“Yes.”
Emily looked at the photograph.
“Vanessa knew her.”
Daniel nodded.
“And she erased her.”
The truth began forming.
Vanessa’s obsession wasn’t only about money.
It was about destroying anyone who could expose her.
Then Emily found another letter.
This one was addressed to Vanessa.
She opened it carefully.
The handwriting was different.
You promised you would help me recover what was stolen. Instead, you took everything for yourself.
Emily looked at Daniel.
“Someone was helping Vanessa?”
Daniel took the letter.
“There was someone else.”
A sound came from upstairs.
Both froze.
Someone was inside.
Daniel immediately pulled Emily behind him.
Footsteps moved across the wooden floor.
Slow.
Careful.
Then a shadow appeared.
A woman.
Older.
Holding a folder.
She stopped when she saw them.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then the woman whispered:
“You shouldn’t have found that.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“Who are you?”
The woman looked at Emily.
“I’m the reason Vanessa is afraid.”
Emily felt her breath stop.
“Why?”
The woman opened the folder.
Inside were dozens of documents.
“Because I know what she did.”
Daniel stared.
“Tell us.”
The woman looked at the photograph in Emily’s hand.
Then whispered:
“Vanessa didn’t steal an inheritance.”
May you like
She looked directly at Daniel.
“She stole an identity.”
