The abandoned office building smelled of wet concrete and old paper.
Broken blinds hung across the windows.
Dust covered the reception desk.
I entered alone.
At least, that was what Briana believed.
Investigators were positioned in nearby rooms.
The detective monitored the audio.
My security team waited outside.
I carried no money.
No check.
No valuables.
Only a phone and the recording device hidden beneath my jacket.
I walked down the hallway.
“Vanessa.”
Her voice came from the conference room.
I stopped.
Briana stepped into view.
She looked different.
Not frightened.
Not desperate.
Calm.
She wore a dark coat and carried a leather briefcase.
“You came.”
“You asked me to.”
She smiled.
“You always were predictable.”
I almost laughed.
“You spent three years studying me and still got me wrong.”
Her smile disappeared.
“Where's the money?”
“I don't have it.”
“Of course you do.”
“I didn't bring it.”
She opened the briefcase.
Inside were printed documents.
Photographs.
Bank statements.
A folder with Tobias's name.
She placed everything on the table.
“This is what happens if you refuse.”
I looked at the documents.
They were convincing.
Transfers.
Emails.
A fabricated agreement showing Tobias had received money from one of my investment accounts.
Then she placed a photograph on top.
Tobias leaving my apartment.
The date was visible.
“People will believe this.”
“Maybe.”
“You'll lose your position.”
“Maybe.”
“Tobias will be ruined.”
I looked at her.
“You don't understand.”
“What?”
“I don't care what you threaten me with anymore.”
She stared at me.
“You should.”
“No.”
I sat down.
“You thought I was afraid of losing money.”
She said nothing.
“You thought I was afraid of losing my job.”
Still nothing.
“You thought I was afraid of losing my family's approval.”
Her expression tightened.
“But you never understood the thing I actually learned.”
“What?”
“I can live without all of it.”
She stared at me.
I leaned forward.
“I can lose money.”
I paused.
“I can lose a position.”
Another pause.
“I can lose people who only love me when I'm useful.”
Her face changed.
“You're bluffing.”
“No.”
She stepped closer.
“You'll pay.”
“No.”
She slammed her hand on the table.
“You have no idea what I can do.”
I looked toward the hidden camera.
Then back at her.
“I know exactly what you've done.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“What does that mean?”
“You forged documents.”
Silence.
“You bribed Kendra.”
Silence.
“You created shell companies.”
Silence.
“You stole from Colton.”
Her breathing changed.
“You used my identity.”
She stepped backward.
“You monitored Tobias.”
She stopped.
Then I said the words I knew would break her composure.
“And you threatened my family.”
She stared at me.
“You have nothing.”
“I have everything.”
The door behind her opened.
Investigators entered.
Briana froze.
For the first time, I saw genuine fear.
She turned toward the hallway.
Two more investigators blocked the exit.
The detective stepped forward.
“Briana Mercer, you're under arrest.”
Briana looked at me.
“You set me up.”
“No.”
I stood.
“You set yourself up.”
She began shouting.
She accused me of lying.
She accused Colton.
She accused Ethan.
She accused everyone except herself.
Then she suddenly laughed.
It was a strange sound.
“You think this ends with me?”
The detective approached.
“What do you mean?”
Briana looked at me.
“You don't know what Colton did.”
My brother's name stopped me.
The detective asked, “What did Colton do?”
Briana smiled.
“He never told you?”
I felt my stomach tighten.
“Tell me.”
She shook her head.
“Ask your brother.”
Then she was taken away.
I stood in the empty conference room staring at the documents.
The detective looked at me.
“Don't let that distract you.”
But it did.
Colton had been hiding something else.
We found him that evening.
He was at my parents' rental.
When I entered, he looked at me and immediately knew.
“She told you.”
“Yes.”
He lowered his head.
“What did you do?”
“I didn't hurt anyone.”
“I didn't ask that.”
He sat down.
“I transferred money.”
“How much?”
“About twenty thousand.”
“To whom?”
“Briana.”
“For what?”
“To keep her quiet.”
“About what?”
He stared at his hands.
“Ethan.”
My stomach tightened.
“What about him?”
Colton explained that before the wedding, Briana had discovered Ethan was investigating her finances.
Colton had paid Ethan to stop.
I looked at him in disbelief.
“You knew Ethan was investigating her?”
“Yes.”
“And you helped her stop him?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she said Ethan was dangerous.”
I shook my head.
“You believed her.”
“I know.”
“Did you know she was pregnant?”
He looked up sharply.
“What?”
I realized he genuinely didn't know.
“She was pregnant before your wedding.”
His face went blank.
“No.”
“She went to a clinic.”
He shook his head.
“She told me she couldn't have children.”
I sat down.
There it was.
Another lie.
Briana had told Colton she was unable to have children.
Yet she had sought pregnancy counseling before their wedding.
The detective joined us.
She asked Colton whether he had ever seen medical documents.
He shook his head.
Then she asked about Ethan.
Colton said Ethan had told him Briana was hiding something.
Colton had ignored him.
The detective looked at me.
“We need Ethan.”
We called him.
He answered.
When we told him Briana had been arrested, he went silent.
Then he said, “There is something I never told you.”
“What?”
“I found a photograph years ago.”
“What photograph?”
“A child.”
My heart stopped.
“Whose child?”
“I don't know.”
“Where did you find it?”
“In Briana's old apartment.”
Ethan described the picture.
A little girl.
About five years old.
Briana was standing beside her.
On the back was a date.
A date before Briana married Colton.
Ethan had assumed the child belonged to someone else.
But the girl's name was written beneath the photograph.
A name I recognized.
Mercer.
I asked him to send the photograph.
He did.
I stared at the image.
The girl had dark hair.
Brown eyes.
A small birthmark near her left eyebrow.
And something about her face looked familiar.
Not to me.
To Colton.
He stared at the screen.
“I've seen her.”
“Where?”
“Briana's phone.”
My heart began pounding.
“She told me it was her niece.”
The detective leaned forward.
“What's the child's name?”
Colton whispered it.
“Lily.”
I looked at the investigator.
“Find her.”
He nodded.
Then my phone rang.
It was my mother.
Her voice was trembling.
“Vanessa, I think I know where Lily is.”
Click here to continue reading: PART 12: My Mother Knew the Child’s Name, and the Truth About Lily Forced Colton to Face the One Secret Briana Had Kept From Him
The Message That Finally Made Vanessa Stop Paying for a Family That Had Never Learned Her Worth
Part 11 of 20
