Vanessa said nothing.
His voice rose.
“Answer me!”
Finally, she snapped.
“Yes!”
The word echoed through the room.
The second she said it, she seemed to realize what she had admitted.
Alexander staggered backward.
“You knew.”
Vanessa glared at him.
“I protected this family.”
“You stole my son from me.”
“I protected what belonged to us!”
“You destroyed us.”
Her composure broke.
“She would have controlled you!”
She pointed toward me.
“Her child would have inherited Grandfather’s shares, and I would have spent the rest of my life watching some nobody—”
“Enough.”
Marcus’s voice cut through the room.
Two men in dark suits entered with yacht security.
Financial-crimes investigators.
Vanessa’s face emptied.
Marcus looked directly at her.
“Monaco authorities were notified before you boarded.”
“You planned this!”
Vanessa turned toward me.
“You set me up!”
“No.”
My voice stayed calm.
“You set yourself up five years ago.”
“I simply kept the evidence.”
One investigator informed her that accounts tied to several associated companies had already been frozen pending investigation.
Her luxury apartment.
Investment accounts.
Offshore holdings.
Anything connected to the suspected stolen money was now under review.
Vanessa turned desperately toward Alexander.
“You’re my brother.”
He looked at her with a coldness I had never seen before.
“You erased five years of my son’s life.”
