Chapter 10 - The Marriage Grant ArrangedDaniel did not understand the sentence at first.
Then he understood it too well.
“What do you mean Grant is the reason I met you?”
Vanessa gripped the phone.
“Five years ago I worked for a restructuring firm in Manhattan.”
“I know.”
“No. You know what I told you.”
Daniel's stomach turned.
Vanessa continued.
“The firm did contract work for Mercer-controlled entities.”
“Grant hired you?”
“Yes.”
“For what?”
“To review Calder's debt exposure.”
Daniel stared through the glass.
“You said you met me at the Harrington charity dinner.”
“I did.”
“By accident.”
“No.”
The word was almost inaudible.
Daniel leaned back.
Every memory of their first year rearranged itself.
Vanessa laughing when he spilled champagne.
Vanessa remembering Maya's birthday.
Vanessa knowing enough about real estate finance to understand his work without seeming interested in it.
“How much did he pay you?”
“At first? Consulting rates.”
“For dating me?”
“No.”
Daniel's laugh was sharp.
“Don't insult me.”
“He asked me to meet you.”
“Why?”
“To get close enough to understand whether you'd ever sell.”
“And you agreed.”
“Yes.”
“Then you married me.”
“That wasn't the plan.”
Daniel stared at her.
Vanessa cried silently.
He felt nothing.
Or too much.
“When did the plan change?”
“When I fell in love with you.”
He nearly hung up.
Vanessa pressed closer to the glass.
“I know how that sounds.”
“It sounds convenient.”
“It is the truth.”
“You locked my daughter in a room.”
“I know.”
“No, stop saying that as though knowing makes it better.”
She flinched.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“Tell me everything.”
Vanessa wiped her face.
Grant had recruited her to assess Daniel emotionally and financially.
He believed Daniel would eventually agree to sell Calder if convinced the company could not survive independently.
Vanessa's role was influence.
Encourage Daniel to step back.
Reassure him when Grant assumed more control.
Normalize the idea that selling would allow him to “finally live.”
At first Vanessa had treated Daniel as an assignment.
Then Maya complicated things.
“She hated me,” Vanessa said.
“She was six.”
“I know.”
“You were replacing her mother.”
“I know that too.”
Over time Maya softened.
Vanessa did too.
By the second year, she wanted out of Grant's arrangement.
Grant refused.
“He had emails. Payments. Everything.”
“So you stayed.”
“Yes.”
“And continued helping him.”
“Sometimes.”
“Sometimes?”
Vanessa looked down.
“I gave him access to your calendar. Board packets. Password resets.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“How much money?”
“He promised me eight million when the sale closed.”
There it was.
Love had not prevented greed.
“You were going to take it.”
“At one point.”
“At which point?”
“Before Maya disappeared.”
Daniel stared.
Vanessa continued quickly.
“My brother owed dangerous people money. I paid them. Then I used money from an account I shouldn't have touched.”
“Which account?”
“The Calder Family Foundation.”
Daniel felt nauseated.
“How much?”
“Six hundred and eighty thousand.”
“You stole from the foundation?”
“I intended to replace it.”
“With Grant's eight million.”
“Yes.”
“So he had you.”
“Yes.”
Daniel's fingers tightened around the phone.
“What happened when Maya found the papers?”
“I panicked.”
“You kidnapped her.”
“I told myself it was temporary.”
“Three days.”
“Grant changed the plan.”
“You still brought her food. You still locked the door.”
Vanessa cried harder.
“Yes.”
“Did you ever intend to let her out?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“As soon as you signed.”
Daniel nearly stood.
Vanessa rushed on.
“But when you wouldn't sign, Grant said we needed more time.”
“Maya said he grabbed you.”
“He did.”
“That doesn't make you innocent.”
“I know.”
“Stop saying that.”
Vanessa fell silent.
Daniel remembered the blue folder.
“Where is Elise's file?”
Vanessa looked at him.
“I took it before Maya disappeared.”
“Where?”
“I gave it to Grant.”
His anger surged.
“You said you knew where it was.”
“I do.”
“You just said Grant has it.”
“He thinks he has all of it.”
Daniel waited.
Vanessa leaned closer.
“I copied part of the folder first.”
“Why?”
“Insurance.”
“Where?”
Her eyes moved toward the camera in the interview room.
“You'll think I'm lying.”
“Try me.”
“I hid it at the house.”
“Where?”
Vanessa almost smiled, bitterly.
“In the one place Grant hated going near.”
Daniel frowned.
Then understood.
“Pearl.”
“The base of her perch has a hollow section.”
Daniel stared.
Vanessa continued.
“I put a flash drive inside the metal base.”
“When?”
“The morning Maya disappeared.”
“What's on it?”
“Scans from Elise's blue folder. Some emails. Payment records.”
“Why didn't you give it to police?”
“Because I wanted something left to bargain with if Grant turned on me.”
Daniel looked at her with contempt.
Vanessa accepted it.
“There's something else.”
“What?”
“When I copied the folder, I found a page Elise had marked.”
Daniel waited.
Vanessa's voice became careful.
“It listed the shell companies.”
“Grant's?”
“Some.”
“Some?”
“One wasn't his.”
“Whose?”
Vanessa looked directly at Daniel.
“Yours.”
He went still.
“What?”
“A company registered under your signature bought one of the properties Elise flagged.”
“I've never owned a shell company.”
“Then somebody used your name.”
Daniel's mind raced.
Vanessa whispered:
“That is why Elise stopped trusting Grant.”
Daniel's mouth went dry.
Vanessa shook her head.
“No. You still don't understand.”
She placed one hand against the glass.
May you like
“Elise wasn't only investigating Grant.”
“She was investigating what he had done in your name.”
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