Chapter 3 - WHAT TYLER STOLE
Silence filled the hallway.
Tyler turned slowly toward Vanessa.
“You need to stop talking.”
Her hand dropped from her pregnant stomach.
“No.”
“Vanessa.”
“You said she signed them.”
My cousin’s voice was shaking now.
“You said Jessica agreed to everything.”
I looked at her.
“You knew about these documents?”
Vanessa’s eyes filled with panic.
“Not like this.”
“What does that mean?”
Tyler stepped between us.
“She doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”
Giovanni spoke quietly.
“I suggest you stop telling women what they know.”
Tyler glared at him.
“This is family business.”
Giovanni looked at our joined hands.
“Apparently, so am I.”
Under different circumstances, I might have laughed.
Instead, I looked at Vanessa.
“What did you know?”
She pressed her lips together.
Tyler said her name again.
She ignored him.
“Two years ago, Tyler asked me to witness some documents.”
My chest tightened.
“What documents?”
“I didn’t read all of them.”
“Vanessa.”
“I swear.”
Her eyes moved to my mother.
Then Sophia.
Then me.
“He told me they were old divorce records.”
“What did you witness?”
“A signature.”
My skin went cold.
“Whose?”
She started crying before she answered.
“Yours.”
Sophia whispered something under her breath.
My mother gripped the wall.
Tyler stepped toward Vanessa.
“You are confused.”
She backed away.
“No, I’m not.”
“You were pregnant then.”
“I wasn’t pregnant two years ago.”
Tyler stopped.
Vanessa’s eyes hardened.
“You don’t even remember when you asked me.”
The hallway doors opened again.
Two hotel security officers appeared.
Behind them stood a woman in a black suit.
Giovanni looked at her.
“Camila.”
She approached.
“Your attorney called.”
“Of course he did.”
She handed him a phone.
“Mr. Russo says the document packet was accessed fifteen minutes ago.”
Tyler’s face changed.
Giovanni looked at him.
“From your phone.”
Tyler immediately reached into his pocket.
Giovanni’s voice remained calm.
“Do not delete anything.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“No.”
Camila spoke for the first time.
“He’s giving you excellent advice.”
Tyler looked around.
“This is insane.”
Vanessa stared at his phone.
“You opened the files?”
“I received a notification.”
“Why?”
“Because I work for Whitmore.”
Giovanni nodded.
“Then Whitmore has a problem.”
Tyler tried to walk past him.
Camila shifted slightly.
She never touched Tyler.
She did not need to.
Something about her posture stopped him.
I suddenly understood that she was not Giovanni’s assistant.
She was security.
Tyler looked at me.
“Jess, you’re letting some stranger humiliate your family.”
I laughed.
“My family?”
“You know what I mean.”
“I genuinely don’t.”
He lowered his voice.
“We have a daughter.”
That did it.
Years of swallowed anger rose through me.
“You do not get to remember Lily when you are cornered.”
Tyler flinched.
“I pay support.”
“You pay what the court ordered after missing nine payments.”
“I made them up.”
“After your wages were threatened.”
“That isn’t fair.”
“No.”
I stepped closer.
“Fair was me sitting beside Lily in urgent care at two in the morning while you posted pictures from Miami.”
His mouth tightened.
“Fair was her asking why Daddy canceled again.”
“Jessica.”
“Fair was me making excuses for you because I didn’t want our daughter believing her father simply chose other things.”
Vanessa started crying harder.
Tyler’s anger shifted toward me.
“You poisoned her against me.”
I stared.
“Lily thinks you are busy.”
He stopped.
“She thinks that because I told her that.”
My voice broke despite my effort to control it.
“She still saves pictures from school because she thinks someday you’ll want to see them.”
For the first time, Tyler had nothing to say.
Giovanni’s hand touched the middle of my back.
Not possessive.
Steady.
I hated how much I needed that small point of support.
Vanessa wiped her eyes.
“There’s something else.”
Tyler spun toward her.
“Stop.”
She looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because you don’t understand what you’re doing.”
“No.”
Her voice became stronger.
“I think I finally do.”
She looked at me.
“Last year, he had me sign another paper.”
“What paper?”
“I don’t know.”
“Vanessa.”
“I was stupid.”
She covered her face for a second.
“He said it was related to our house.”
Giovanni asked, “Was Jessica’s name on it?”
“I saw Hale.”
My heart dropped.
Tyler lunged for her arm.
Camila caught his wrist before he reached her.
Everything happened in less than a second.
Tyler froze.
Camila released him immediately.
“Do that again and hotel security will remove you.”
Tyler looked at Giovanni.
“You think you can destroy me?”
Giovanni’s expression did not change.
“I have not done anything to you.”
“You’re trying to ruin Whitmore’s financing.”
“No.”
Giovanni stepped closer.
“You did that yourselves.”
The ballroom doors cracked open.
A hotel manager whispered to Sophia.
She looked devastated.
“The guests are noticing.”
I suddenly remembered where we were.
My sister’s wedding.
Her wedding.
I had allowed Tyler’s disaster to swallow it.
“Soph.”
She came toward me.
“I’m so sorry.”
“Stop.”
She grabbed my hands.
“You have nothing to apologize for.”
“It’s your wedding.”
“Yes.”
She smiled through tears.
“And for the last six years, every family event has somehow required you to sit quietly so nobody makes Tyler or Vanessa uncomfortable.”
My mother looked away.
Sophia continued.
“I’m done with that.”
Vanessa stared at her.
Sophia faced our cousin.
“I love you.”
Vanessa’s lips trembled.
“But you married the man who abandoned my sister while she was pregnant.”
“Sophia.”
“And I spent years pretending I wasn’t angry because everyone said we needed to keep the family together.”
She shook her head.
“We didn’t keep the family together.”
“We just made Jessica carry the broken pieces.”
My chest hurt.
Because it was true.
And because no one had ever said it aloud.
Not even me.
Sophia turned to the hotel manager.
“Open the ballroom.”
The manager hesitated.
“Mrs. Campbell?”
“My wedding continues.”
She looked at Tyler.
“But he leaves.”
Tyler laughed in disbelief.
“You’re throwing me out?”
Marcus stepped beside his wife.
“Yes.”
Tyler looked at Vanessa.
She did not move toward him.
“Vanessa.”
She remained still.
“Are you coming?”
Vanessa looked down at her stomach.
Then at me.
“I need to talk to Jessica.”
His face darkened.
“You’re my wife.”
“And she was my cousin.”
“Was?”
Vanessa swallowed.
“I don’t know.”
Tyler walked away without another word.
Security followed.
The ballroom doors opened.
Guests immediately pretended they had not been listening.
Sophia took a breath.
“Now I’m going to cut my cake before somebody finds another felony.”
Even Giovanni smiled.
But Vanessa did not.
She touched my arm.
“Jessica.”
I looked at her.
“I need to tell you something before Tyler gets home.”
“What?”
Her face turned pale.
“There’s a safe in his office.”
I felt Giovanni become still beside me.
May you like
Vanessa whispered.
“And inside it is a folder with Lily’s name on the cover.”
