Chapter 5 - FramedBy midnight, the Harrington estate resembled a crime scene.
Within an hour, the black SUV had been identified.
It belonged to Whitmore Strategic Services.
A private company owned by Vanessa’s older brother, Grant Whitmore.
Officially, Grant’s company provided corporate security and “reputation management.”
Unofficially, Adrian had heard whispers.
Private investigators.
Surveillance.
Pressure campaigns.
Information gathering.
He had never cared before.
Now he did.
At noon, Adrian summoned Grant to Harrington Tower.
Grant arrived wearing a gray suit and the relaxed expression of a man who believed charm could solve most problems.
“Future brother.”
Adrian did not shake his hand.
Grant looked at the empty chair.
“Should I sit?”
“You had someone following me.”
Grant’s smile weakened.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Black Range Rover. Plate ending 418.”
Grant paused.
Adrian knew he had him.
“Vanessa asked us to keep an eye on the estate staff.”
“Why?”
“Security.”
“Renee Carter is home injured.”
Grant shrugged.
“That doesn’t mean she’s harmless.”
Adrian stood.
Grant stopped smiling.
“Choose your next words carefully.”
“Relax.”
“Don’t tell me to relax.”
Grant leaned back.
“Vanessa thought some employees might sell wedding details to tabloids. She asked me to make sure nobody was taking pictures or talking to reporters.”
“So you followed Renee to her daughter’s school?”
Grant hesitated.
Adrian felt nausea rise.
“You have been watching her child?”
“Routine background.”
“She’s nine.”
“I didn’t personally—”
Adrian slammed his palm against the desk.
Grant flinched.
“Stay away from that family.”
“Fine.”
“I mean completely.”
Grant stood.
“You’re overreacting.”
Adrian walked around the desk.
“Your sister removed a safety warning from a broken ladder, ordered an employee onto it, and then lied to my face.”
Grant’s expression shifted.
“She told you about the ladder?”
“She told you?”
Grant immediately realized his mistake.
Adrian stared at him.
“When?”
“Adrian—”
“When did she tell you?”
Grant looked toward the window.
“Last week.”
Adrian’s blood ran cold.
“Last week?”
“She was annoyed because your maintenance guy wouldn’t let the decorators use it.”
“Vanessa knew it was broken for a week.”
Grant stayed silent.
Adrian pointed toward the door.
“Get out.”
“Listen—”
“Get out before I call security.”
Grant’s face hardened.
“You’re making a mistake.”
Adrian almost laughed.
“Yes.”
Grant frowned.
“I made it when I proposed to your sister.”
By three that afternoon, rumors had reached Vanessa.
By four, she stormed into Adrian’s penthouse office.
“You threatened my brother?”
Adrian didn’t look up from his laptop.
“I told him to stop following Renee.”
“She is manipulating you.”
Adrian finally raised his head.
“How?”
“She’s playing the victim.”
“She fell from a broken ladder.”
“And somehow that’s now the center of our relationship?”
“No. Your behavior is.”
Vanessa closed the office door.
“We’re six weeks from marrying.”
“I’m aware.”
“Three hundred people have flights.”
“I’m aware.”
“My father has already spent nearly a million dollars.”
“I didn’t ask him to.”
Vanessa stared.
“What are you saying?”
Adrian stood.
“I’m postponing the wedding.”
Vanessa’s face emptied.
For several seconds she appeared not to understand English.
Then she laughed.
“No.”
“Vanessa—”
“No.”
“This isn’t a negotiation.”
“You don’t postpone our wedding because some employee had an accident.”
“Stop calling her an employee as though that changes what happened.”
“Why do you care so much?”
“Because I should have cared sooner.”
The answer stunned even Adrian.
Vanessa’s eyes filled with tears.
He had seen her cry before.
At movies.
During arguments.
When she wanted something.
This looked different.
Perhaps the fear was real.
“You love me,” she whispered.
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“I thought I knew you.”
“You do.”
“No.”
“Yes, you do.”
She crossed the room and took his hand.
“My mother died when I was seventeen. My father treated emotion like weakness. I had to fight for everything. I know I can be demanding. I know I’m impatient.”
“Demanding is sending food back at a restaurant. Threatening someone’s livelihood is abuse.”
Vanessa recoiled.
“You think I’m abusive?”
“I think you’ve been cruel.”
“You’re destroying us because of people who work for you.”
“That sentence is exactly the problem.”
Vanessa dropped his hand.
Something hardened behind her eyes.
“All right.”
Adrian watched her carefully.
“All right what?”
“You want an investigation? Have one.”
“I am.”
“You want to postpone? Fine.”
Her calmness felt wrong.
“But when this is over,” she said, “you’ll see exactly who Renee Carter really is.”
Adrian frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Vanessa smiled through tears.
“It means you never asked why a woman with nursing credentials ended up scrubbing floors.”
Then she left.
Adrian remained motionless.
The comment bothered him.
Not because he believed Vanessa.
Because it sounded prepared.
That evening, Renee received an email.
She was helping Maya with multiplication when her phone vibrated.
The subject line read:
EMPLOYMENT TERMINATION NOTICE
Her heart stopped.
She opened it.
The Harrington Estate letterhead filled the screen.
Effective immediately, your employment has been terminated due to theft, breach of confidentiality, and misconduct.
Renee stared.
There was more.
Photographs.
A diamond bracelet inside her cleaning locker.
Copies of documents supposedly showing she had sold information about the Harrington wedding to a celebrity gossip website.
Bank deposits totaling fifteen thousand dollars.
Renee’s hands began shaking.
“No.”
Maya looked up.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Renee reread the email.
At the bottom was Adrian’s electronic signature.
Her chest tightened.
Of course.
Of course he had believed Vanessa.
Why had she expected anything else?
Then someone knocked.
Hard.
Renee froze.
Another knock.
She approached carefully and looked through the peephole.
Adrian stood outside.
She opened the door halfway.
“What do you want?”
He immediately knew something was wrong.
“Renee?”
“You could have called.”
“About what?”
She held up her phone.
His face changed as he read the notice.
“I didn’t send this.”
Renee laughed bitterly.
“Your signature is there.”
“It’s fake.”
“The photographs?”
“What photographs?”
She showed him.
Adrian stared.
The diamond bracelet.
Bank records.
Messages.
He slowly lowered the phone.
“This is fabricated.”
“How do you know?”
“Because that bracelet is Vanessa’s.”
Renee stopped breathing.
Adrian looked at the image again.
A distinctive green emerald clasp sat beside the diamonds.
He had bought the bracelet in Paris two years earlier.
Only three existed.
Vanessa had one.
His mother had another.
The third was in a museum collection.
Renee whispered:
“She planted it.”
Adrian’s phone rang.
Thomas.
He answered.
“Tell me you’re at Renee’s.”
“I am.”
Thomas sounded shaken.
“Good. Don’t leave her alone.”
“Why?”
“We found someone inside the estate security system.”
Adrian’s body tightened.
“Who?”
“We don’t know yet. But security footage from the last six months has been deleted.”
“All of it?”
“Not all.”
Thomas inhaled.
“Only footage involving Vanessa.”
Adrian looked at Renee.
She read the answer in his face.
Thomas continued.
“And there’s something else.”
“What?”
“The deleted server has been uploading backups to an external account.”
“Whose?”
A pause.
May you like
Then:
“Grant Whitmore.”
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