Chapter 10 - Vanessa’s Last Bargain
The door moved three inches.
Then stopped.
A second locking mechanism caught.
Richard cursed.
Isabelle backed away.
Police sirens approached.
Richard fled.
He made it only as far as the backyard.
Officers arrested him without gunfire.
The object he had stolen from Isabelle’s desk was a handwritten notebook.
Her original algorithm notebook.
Richard believed it could undermine her ownership claim.
He was wrong.
Copies existed in Gabriel’s archive.
His desperate act instead gave prosecutors more evidence.
The next morning, Isabelle sat between her brothers eating pancakes.
Theo had burned half of them.
Nobody mentioned it.
For the first time in months, she laughed until she cried.
Then Vanessa called.
“I need to see you one last time.”
They met at Isabelle’s attorney’s office.
Vanessa looked different without the red dresses, diamonds, and carefully styled confidence.
She wore jeans and a plain blouse.
“I’m leaving.”
“Where?”
“California.”
“Sofia?”
“Her lawyer thinks she may avoid prison if the court accepts treatment and probation. No guarantees.”
Vanessa placed an envelope down.
“This belongs to you.”
Inside was a handwritten letter from Damien.
Unopened.
“I don't want it.”
“You should.”
“Why?”
“Because it isn't an apology.”
Isabelle read.
Damien claimed Luca had secretly negotiated to acquire Cole Meridian after the criminal proceedings.
Isabelle looked at Vanessa.
“Do you believe this?”
“I don't know.”
“Why bring it?”
“Because once I kept information from you because it benefited me.”
Vanessa stood.
“I won't do that again.”
It was not friendship.
It was perhaps the beginning of decency.
Isabelle thanked her.
Then called Luca.
“Are you trying to buy my company?”
“No.”
“Did you discuss acquiring it?”
A pause.
“Yes.”
Her chest tightened.
“When?”
“Before the gala.”
“Why?”
“Damien approached me.”
That mattered.
But secrecy still hurt.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I rejected him.”
“You don't get to decide which secrets matter to me.”
“You're right.”
No defense.
No manipulation.
Just acknowledgment.
It disarmed her.
“Show me everything.”
“Come to my office.”
She did.
Luca produced every email.
Damien had offered Luca majority control in exchange for liquidity to complete the merger.
Luca refused.
Then Luca had quietly begun investigating.
That investigation produced the envelope he carried into the ballroom.
“You were coming to warn me that night.”
“Yes.”
“Before Damien hit me.”
“Yes.”
“And if he hadn't?”
“I would still have given you the documents.”
She believed him because the timestamps proved it.
Isabelle sat back.
“I don't know how to trust anyone anymore.”
“Then don't trust me because I ask.”
Luca slid the documents toward her.
“Verify me.”
She smiled faintly.
“That isn't very romantic.”
“Trust shouldn't require romance.”
She looked at him for a long time.
Then reached across the desk.
Their fingers touched.
A quiet beginning.
Her phone interrupted.
A message from Damien’s attorney.
URGENT. DAMIEN WANTS TO CHANGE HIS PLEA. HE SAYS THERE IS ONE PERSON ISABELLE STILL DOESN'T KNOW ABOUT.
Another message arrived.
A photograph.
Gabriel Voss.
Taken six months after his supposed death.
Isabelle stared at the date.
May you like
Then at the man standing beside her father.
It was Luca.
