Chapter 8 - THE TRAPI stopped being afraid of Vanessa Sterling when I understood what she wanted.
She didn’t want money.
Not really.
She didn’t even want Dominic.
She wanted the story she had been promised since childhood.
The Sterling heiress.
The Blackwood heir.
The merged families.
The empire.
I had interrupted the ending she believed belonged to her.
People who think life owes them a particular ending become dangerous when reality refuses to cooperate.
Agent Hale assigned protection to me.
Rachel insisted I leave New York.
I refused.
“No.”
“Claire, she threatened to kill you.”
“Exactly.”
Rachel stared at me.
“That is usually an argument for leaving.”
“If I run, she follows.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do.”
I placed Vanessa’s note on the table.
“She doesn’t want me hidden. She wants me frightened.”
Dominic stood near the window.
He had barely spoken since admitting the kiss.
Our divorce would become final after the mandatory legal waiting period, but emotionally something had already closed.
He no longer tried to approach me as my husband.
Only as someone who still cared.
“What are you suggesting?” Hale asked.
“We give Vanessa what she wants.”
Rachel frowned.
“Which is?”
“Me.”
Dominic immediately said, “No.”
I looked at him.
“You don’t get a vote.”
“I know.”
“Then don’t act like you do.”
“You’re right.”
He paused.
“But I can still say it’s dangerous.”
Agent Hale agreed.
It was dangerous.
But it could work.
Vanessa had contacted me once.
She might again.
We created bait.
Rachel announced publicly that I planned to hold a press conference at my father’s restored cabin and reveal evidence connecting the Sterling family to Blackwood financial crimes.
The announcement was false.
There would be no press.
The cabin would be surrounded by law enforcement.
I would wear a wire.
Dominic hated every second.
The press release went out Tuesday morning.
At 7:42 p.m., an unknown number texted me.
Your father died because he couldn’t leave things alone.
I typed:
Just like yours?
Three dots appeared.
My father built the Blackwoods.
Then why did he die begging Victoria for scraps?
That was a guess.
But it worked.
You know nothing about him.
Come tell me.
No answer.
Ten minutes.
Twenty.
Then:
Tomorrow. Midnight. Your cabin. Alone.
Hale smiled grimly.
“She took the bait.”
The next twenty-four hours felt longer than the previous month.
I thought about my baby constantly.
The child had become an invisible companion to every decision.
I wondered whether it had been a girl.
Dominic once said he wanted a daughter with my eyes.
I hated remembering that.
At eleven the following night, agents moved into position around the cabin.
I sat alone inside.
A wire rested beneath my sweater.
The fireplace crackled.
At 12:08, headlights appeared.
A black sedan stopped near the trees.
Vanessa emerged.
Red coat.
Dark boots.
Blonde hair pulled back.
She looked nothing like the terrified woman at the top of the staircase.
She looked calm.
She knocked.
I opened the door.
“No gun?” she asked.
“No.”
She smiled.
“Still naive.”
“Come inside.”
Vanessa entered.
Her eyes swept the room.
“My father hated this place.”
I froze.
“He was here?”
“Many times.”
She walked toward the fireplace.
“Thomas and my father started as friends.”
“You mean before your father helped steal from him?”
“He didn’t steal.”
“Federal records disagree.”
“My father protected the company.”
“That’s what thieves call it when they wear expensive suits.”
Vanessa laughed.
“I understand why Dominic loved you.”
I said nothing.
“You always sound brave.”
“And you always sound rehearsed.”
Her smile vanished briefly.
I continued.
“You knew I was pregnant.”
“Yes.”
The admission came so easily it stunned me.
“You deleted the clinic message.”
“Yes.”
“You put Victoria and me together.”
“Yes.”
“Did you tell her to push me?”
“No.”
“Did you think she might?”
Vanessa shrugged.
“I knew she hated you.”
My fists tightened.
“My baby died.”
“Victoria pushed you.”
“You engineered the confrontation.”
“I gave two adults information. What they did with it was their responsibility.”
“Convenient.”
“It’s true.”
“You wanted my baby dead.”
For the first time, Vanessa looked away.
“Dominic wasn’t supposed to have children with you.”
“Because he was supposed to have them with you?”
Her jaw tightened.
“My father promised.”
I almost pitied her.
Almost.
“Your father promised you another human being?”
“He promised our families would become one.”
“You were children.”
“So?”
“Dominic chose me.”
Vanessa’s eyes hardened.
“For a while.”
“No. He chose me for six years. Even after our marriage failed, he still didn’t choose you.”
That struck exactly where I intended.
“He kissed me.”
“One kiss you’ve been building a fantasy around for months.”
“He wanted me.”
“Then why did he stop?”
Vanessa stepped toward me.
“Because you manipulated him.”
“How?”
“Tears. Weakness. That little wounded-wife routine.”
I laughed.
“You mean marriage?”
Her face changed.
I could see the rage beneath the polish.
“You weren’t even supposed to survive that fall.”
There.
I heard Hale’s voice faintly through my hidden earpiece.
Keep her talking.
“What did you say?”
Vanessa realized her mistake.
“I said nothing.”
“You said I wasn’t supposed to survive.”
“Victoria pushed you.”
“But you expected it.”
“No.”
“You planned everything else.”
Vanessa turned toward the window.
I followed.
“You disabled the cameras.”
Silence.
“You stole my medical records.”
Silence.
“You convinced Dominic I was drunk.”
“He wanted to believe it.”
That hurt because it was partly true.
“You forged his signature.”
Vanessa looked at me.
“He was weak.”
“You wanted to destroy him too.”
“I wanted to save him.”
“By framing him?”
“By forcing him to understand he couldn’t survive without me.”
That was when I understood.
Vanessa’s obsession had never been love.
Love allows choice.
Obsession requires possession.
“You never loved Dominic.”
She slapped me.
My head snapped sideways.
Agents waited outside.
I knew they would enter if I gave the signal.
I didn’t.
I needed more.
Vanessa whispered, “Don’t talk to me about love.”
“You wanted his company.”
“I wanted his life.”
“You wanted his name.”
“I deserved it.”
“Why?”
“Because I was there first!”
Her scream filled the cabin.
There she was.
The real Vanessa.
“My father raised me for this. Every dinner. Every vacation. Every school. Everything was planned around Dominic.”
“And he chose someone else.”
“He chose wrong.”
“No.”
I looked directly at her.
“He chose freely.”
Vanessa reached into her coat.
I tensed.
She pulled out a small pistol.
Every agent outside heard Hale’s command.
But before they could move, Vanessa pointed it at me.
“Take off the wire.”
My stomach dropped.
“I don’t—”
“You think I’m stupid?”
She stepped forward.
“The necklace. Take it off.”
The wire microphone was hidden near the clasp.
I removed it.
Vanessa smashed it beneath her boot.
“Now we’re alone.”
Not quite.
The cabin still contained hidden surveillance.
But she didn’t know.
“You’re going to confess,” Vanessa said.
“To what?”
“Stealing Blackwood money.”
I laughed despite the gun.
“You’re insane.”
“You’ll record a statement.”
“And then?”
“You disappear.”
My blood turned cold.
“Like my father?”
“No.”
Her smile returned.
“Your father’s death was much cleaner.”
I stared at her.
“You know who killed him?”
“Of course.”
“Sebastian?”
“Sebastian ordered it.”
“And your father?”
Vanessa’s eyes glittered.
“My father cut the brake line.”
Outside, Hale had everything he needed.
But Vanessa suddenly turned toward the window.
A red dot appeared against the glass.
She saw it.
“Police.”
Then chaos.
Vanessa grabbed me and dragged me backward.
The front door exploded inward.
Agents shouted.
“Drop the weapon!”
Vanessa pressed the pistol beneath my chin.
“Back up!”
Nobody moved.
Dominic appeared behind the agents.
My heart stopped.
He wasn’t supposed to be there.
Vanessa saw him.
Everything changed.
“Dominic?”
Her voice became almost childlike.
He raised his empty hands.
“Vanessa.”
“You came.”
“Yes.”
“Tell them to leave.”
“I can’t.”
“You can.”
“Let Claire go.”
Vanessa pressed the weapon harder.
“You still choose her.”
Dominic looked at me.
Then back at Vanessa.
“No.”
I felt something inside me break.
Vanessa smiled.
Dominic continued.
“Claire doesn’t belong to me anymore.”
Her smile faded.
“And you don’t either.”
He stepped closer.
“I should have told you clearly years ago. I should never have kissed you. That was cruel because it gave you hope where there wasn’t any.”
Vanessa began crying.
“I love you.”
“No.”
Dominic’s voice was gentle.
“You love the future everyone promised you.”
“She destroyed it.”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“It never existed.”
Vanessa’s gun trembled.
That was the opening.
I dropped.
A shot cracked through the room.
Agents rushed forward.
Vanessa screamed.
Dominic fell.
For one horrible second, the entire world stopped.
“Dominic!”
I crawled toward him.
Blood spread across his shoulder.
Agents pinned Vanessa to the floor.
She screamed his name.
Dominic looked at me.
“Are you hurt?”
I shook my head.
“You idiot.”
He smiled weakly.
“Probably.”
Paramedics rushed inside.
As they lifted him onto the stretcher, Vanessa’s screaming continued behind us.
She had finally gotten the ending she believed belonged to her.
Dominic had come for her.
He had stood in front of her.
He had looked directly at her.
And he had told her the one truth she could never accept.
He did not belong to her.
By sunrise Vanessa Sterling was charged with attempted murder, kidnapping, conspiracy, unlawful access to medical records, fraud, and multiple other offenses.
But one final revelation remained.
The ballistics report showed Vanessa’s bullet had passed through Dominic’s shoulder without life-threatening damage.
He would recover.
And when police processed the pistol, they discovered it had been registered twenty years earlier.
To Charles Sterling.
The same gun had been found missing from his collection after my father died.
Residue preserved inside its original storage case connected Charles to another crime.
A crime nobody knew existed.
Three weeks before my father’s fatal crash, someone had fired through his office window.
He had never reported it.
But the bullet was still embedded in the wall of the abandoned Bennett building.
Investigators recovered it.
The markings matched Vanessa’s gun.
Charles Sterling hadn’t merely helped Sebastian kill my father.
He had tried once before.
May you like
And failed.
The second time, he made sure Thomas Bennett never came home.
