Chapter 8 - THE CONFRONTATION
Vanessa looked nothing like the polished, elegant woman who had walked out of the Westchester mansion four months ago.
Her expensive silk blouse was rumpled, her blonde hair was pulled back into a messy, hurried ponytail, and her face was pale, streaked with running mascara. She had been intercepted by federal agents two hours earlier at JFK Airport while attempting to board a private flight to Zurich.
When Vanessa saw Grace standing in the middle of the executive office, she stopped dead in her tracks.
"Grace..." Vanessa whispered, her voice trembling.
"Don't say my name," Grace said, her voice like ice.
Vanessa looked from Grace to Daniel, and finally to Richard Sterling, who was currently being handcuffed by a uniformed federal agent near the desk.
"Daniel, please!" Vanessa suddenly burst into tears, taking a step toward her husband. "He forced me to do it! Richard threatened me! He said he would destroy our family if I didn't set up those accounts! You know I love you! You know I love Ethan!"
Daniel didn't flinch. He didn't step forward. He looked at the woman he had loved for seven years with complete, cold detachment.
"You don't love Ethan," Daniel said quietly. "If you loved him, you wouldn't have left him trapped in his own head, unable to speak, unable to walk, thinking he was broken because his mother threw him away."
Vanessa’s tears stopped instantly. Seeing that her emotional manipulation was failing, her face hardened back into that familiar, bitter chill.
"He's soft," Vanessa spat, looking at Daniel with pure venom. "Just like you. You were both boring. A quiet life in Westchester with soccer games and dinner parties? I was suffocating!"
"You weren't suffocating," Grace interrupted, her voice ringing clearly across the quiet office. "You're just empty, Mom. You keep running from life to life, taking whatever you can steal, because you think money will fill that hole inside you. But it never does, does it? You're still just as cold and empty today as you were ten years ago when you left me and Lily."
Vanessa glared at Grace, her eyes full of malice. "You think you're better than me? Look at you! Walking around with no shoes, living like a beggar! You're nothing!"
"I have something you will never, ever have," Grace said softly, stepping closer until she was standing inches away from her mother.
"Oh yeah?" Vanessa sneered. "What’s that?"
"A brother who loves me," Grace said plainly. "And a heart that knows how to heal."
The federal lead agent stepped forward, placing a hand on Vanessa’s shoulder. "Vanessa Foster, you are under arrest for grand larceny, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit financial fraud. You have the right to remain silent..."
As the officers led Vanessa and Richard Sterling out of the corner office in handcuffs, Vanessa turned her head back one last time. She looked at Daniel, hoping for a sliver of regret or pain in his eyes.
May you like
Daniel simply turned his back on her, looking out the massive floor-to-ceiling glass window toward Central Park in the distance.
The past was finally dead. The truth was out in the light.
