Chương 7
“Baby okay?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Vanessa folded her hands.
Elena noticed a faint indentation on her ring finger.
No ring.
Probably nothing.
Not every detail was evidence.
She was trying to relearn that.
“Why my wedding?”
Vanessa inhaled slowly.
“Because Victor stopped believing I would do it.”
“That is not an answer.”
“No. It’s the ugly version of the beginning.”
Elena waited.
Vanessa looked toward the closed door.
“I asked him privately for four months to acknowledge the baby without a gag clause. I did not ask him to marry me. I did not ask him to leave anyone. There was no one to leave.”
“Did you love him?”
Vanessa gave a small, humorless smile.
“I thought I did.”
“That sounds convenient.”
“It probably does.”
Elena sipped water.
Vanessa continued.
“He was kind after my mother died.”
Elena’s eyes narrowed.
Vanessa noticed.
“I know how that sounds too.”
“How old were you?”
“Thirty.”
“And he was sixty.”
“Yes.”
“You worked for him.”
“Not directly. The foundation retained my firm.”
“But he had power over your work.”
“Yes.”
“Did that bother you then?”
“Less than it should have.”
Elena appreciated the answer because Vanessa did not try to edit her past into a cleaner version.
“How did it start?”
“A dinner after a fundraiser. Then another. Then I was traveling with the foundation team. He was lonely. I was flattered.”
“And Adrian?”
“That had ended years earlier.”
“Did Victor know you dated his son?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I told him.”
Elena stared.
“And that did not stop either of you.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Vanessa rubbed her thumb against the water glass.
“Because people are very good at making strange things sound temporary when they want something.”
Elena looked away.
That answer belonged to more than Vanessa.
“When did it end?”
“Before I knew I was pregnant.”
“Who ended it?”
“He did.”
“Why?”
“He said it was becoming reckless.”
Elena almost laughed.
“That was his concern.”
Vanessa’s mouth tightened.
“Yes.”
“When you told him you were pregnant?”
“He asked if I was certain about the father.”
“That must have been pleasant.”
“I threw a glass.”
Elena looked at her.
Vanessa shrugged faintly.
“Not at him.”
“Good clarification.”
A brief smile passed between them.
Then disappeared.
“He wanted the test,” Vanessa said. “I wanted it too. I knew what people would say because of Adrian.”
“So the report was supposed to protect you.”
“Yes.”
“And after it confirmed Victor?”
“He offered support.”
“With confidentiality.”
“Permanent confidentiality. Including restrictions on what I could tell the child about the circumstances until the child was eighteen.”
Elena frowned.
“Could he do that?”
“The lawyers could write it. Whether it would hold up is another matter. I refused.”
“Why not negotiate?”
“I did.”
“For how long?”
“Until three days before your wedding.”
Elena felt something shift.
“What happened then?”
“Victor’s lawyer withdrew the acknowledgment language.”
“Why?”
Vanessa looked at her.
“Because of you.”
Elena sat still.
“He said any public acknowledgment before the wedding would create a media event that harmed you and Adrian.”
Elena almost admired the construction.
Victor had turned her into a justification without giving her the dignity of knowledge.
“He used me.”
“Yes.”
“And you decided to use me back.”
Vanessa’s face tightened.
“Yes.”
There it was.
No apology softened it.
Elena nodded slowly.
“I need you to understand something.”
“I think I do.”
“No. You humiliated me in front of my parents.”
Vanessa looked down.
“My father stood there while strangers filmed me finding out my husband had lied to me for months.”
“I know.”
“You could have given me the report privately.”
“Yes.”
“You could have called me.”
“I tried once.”
Elena frowned.
“When?”
“The week before the wedding.”
“I never got a call.”
“I hung up.”
“That is not trying.”
“I know.”
Elena’s anger rose.
Vanessa did not defend herself.
“I told myself public exposure was the only thing Victor couldn’t bury,” she said. “That if I warned you, Adrian would warn him. Security would block me. Lawyers would get another order. I told myself you were already part of the machine.”
“I wasn’t.”
“I know that now.”
“You knew enough to know I didn’t have the report.”
“Yes.”
“Then you knew I wasn’t part of it.”
Vanessa’s eyes filled.
She blinked the tears away.
“I knew you were marrying Adrian.”
Elena leaned back.
“So that was enough.”
“At the time.”
“And now?”
“No.”
The room was quiet.
Vanessa rested both hands over her stomach.
The gesture was protective, not theatrical.
Elena looked at her and felt anger, pity, resentment, and an unwilling kinship she did not want.
“Do you regret it?” Elena asked.
Vanessa took a long time.
“I regret hurting you.”
“That’s what you said at the wedding.”
“It’s still true.”
“That is not the same as regretting doing it.”
“No.”
Elena looked at the door.
Part of her had wanted Vanessa to beg forgiveness.
Part of her would have despised her if she had.
“What do you want now?”
“For Victor to acknowledge his child.”
“Publicly?”
“Legally first. Publicly, I don’t care anymore.”
“That seems difficult to believe.”
Vanessa smiled without humor.
“I had forty-eight hours of strangers debating my sex life. It changes your priorities.”
Elena understood that better than she wanted to.
“Why ‘Baby Vale’ on the ultrasound?”
“That was the clinic portal surname field.”
“You entered it?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because it is the baby’s last name.”
Elena studied her.
“Even if Victor refuses?”
“Yes.”
“That sounds like you’re claiming something.”
“I am.”
“What?”
“Not his money.”
“I didn’t ask about money.”
Vanessa looked embarrassed.
“Sorry. Everyone does.”
Elena waited.
Vanessa said, “I’m claiming that my child is not a problem he gets to rename.”
That, Elena thought, was the first sentence Vanessa had spoken that sounded less like strategy than fear.
They left after an hour.
Outside, photographers waited across the street.
Elena had told no one about the meeting except Priya and Catherine.
Vanessa stared through the restaurant window.
“Victor’s people?”
May you like
“Maybe yours.”
“I don’t have people.”
