Chapter 3 - THE LEDGERThe notebook hit the marble floor.
Vanessa moved faster than Elena had ever seen her move.
She snatched it up.
“Private notes.”
Damian held out his hand.
“Give it to me.”
Vanessa hesitated.
“No.”
The terrace went silent.
Damian blinked once.
“No?”
“It’s wedding planning.”
“Then you won’t mind me looking.”
“I said no.”
Elena shifted Mia higher in her arms.
She wanted to leave.
She wanted to disappear.
But Damian stopped her.
“Stay.”
Vanessa’s eyes flashed.
“Why?”
“Because your name is in that notebook.”
Vanessa looked at Elena.
Then smiled.
“She saw one word upside down and decided there’s a conspiracy.”
“I saw ‘remove,’” Elena said.
“Exactly. Remove from the wedding staff list.”
“You've never given me a night off.”
Damian almost smiled.
But his eyes remained cold.
Vanessa turned toward him.
“This is insane. You cancel our engagement dinner because a child got her feelings hurt, and now your employee is accusing me of fraud?”
Nobody had said the word fraud.
Damian noticed.
“You just did.”
Vanessa’s smile disappeared.
She recovered quickly.
“Because that’s obviously where this melodrama is going.”
Damian stepped closer.
“Give me the notebook.”
“No.”
He reached for it.
Vanessa pulled it back.
The binding tore.
Pages scattered across the marble.
Elena saw account numbers.
Company names.
Dates.
Transfers.
Then one amount stopped her heart.
$4.8 million.
Damian picked up the nearest page.
His eyes moved across it once.
Then again.
“This is my family office account.”
Vanessa said nothing.
“This transfer was authorized three months ago.”
He looked up.
“I didn't authorize it.”
For the first time, Vanessa looked cornered.
Then she pointed at Elena.
“She planted that.”
Elena stared at her.
“Are you serious?”
“You had access to my room for months. You knew Damian liked your daughter. You saw an opportunity.”
Mia began crying again.
“Mama didn’t do bad.”
Damian stepped between them.
“Don't speak about Elena like that in front of her child.”
Vanessa’s mouth tightened.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The truth.”
Damian stared at her.
Vanessa leaned closer.
“I know about the nights you leave your office early.”
Elena froze.
“I know about the trust paperwork.”
Damian's expression changed.
“And I know you changed your will.”
Elena looked at him.
Damian said nothing.
Vanessa smiled.
May you like
“And if you touch me, the whole world finds out what you were planning to give the housekeeper’s daughter.”
The silence that followed felt heavier than the mansion itself.
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