Chapter 7
The next recording answered.
Vanessa:
“Grant keeps Isabella.”
Luca:
“And Noah?”
Grant:
“With her.”
Vanessa laughed.
“Obviously. She’ll do anything if the child stays with her.”
I stared at them.
Isabella whispered:
“What were you planning?”
Grant said nothing.
I pressed play.
Luca:
“Massimo gets one choice. North Harbor or his daughter leaves Bellandi protection.”
Vanessa:
“He’ll give the harbor.”
Grant:
“He loves Noah too much.”
Silence.
Then Grant’s voice:
“If he doesn’t, Isabella learns whose family she belongs to.”
I stopped the recording.
My daughter stared at her husband.
“I was leverage.”
Grant stepped forward.
“No.”
“You married me for this.”
“No.”
Vanessa laughed.
Wrong moment.
Isabella looked at her.
“What?”
Vanessa realized.
Too late.
I turned.
“What is funny?”
Nothing.
I replayed.
Grant’s wording bothered me.
Whose family she belongs to.
Not became part of.
Belongs.
I looked at Isabella.
“How did you meet Grant?”
She frowned.
“At the Belmont gala.”
“Who invited him?”
She thought.
“Luca.”
There.
I looked at Grant.
He looked away.
Isabella’s face slowly changed.
“No.”
Grant said:
“Isabella—”
“No.”
She stepped backward.
“You said we met by accident.”
“I did love you.”
Not denial.
I felt my stomach turn.
Vanessa sighed.
“Don’t start crying.”
Isabella looked at her.
“You planned it.”
Vanessa crossed her arms.
“Luca introduced two compatible people.”
“No.”
Isabella’s voice broke.
“He placed Grant near me.”
Grant reached for her.
She recoiled.
He froze.
I saw it.
Then Noah did something worse.
He moved between them.
Three years old.
Trying to protect his mother from his father.
I pulled him back gently.
“No.”
Noah looked at me.
“You don’t have to do that.”
He whispered:
“Daddy gets mad.”
“I know.”
Grant shouted:
“I am standing right here.”
Noah immediately hid his face.
I stared at Grant.
“You wanted a wife.”
“No.”
“You wanted access.”
Grant’s jaw tightened.
I looked at Vanessa.
“And you helped arrange it.”
She shrugged.
“Your daughter married willingly.”
Another perfect cruelty.
Use consent at the end of a deception to erase the deception itself.
Isabella whispered:
“How long was I a plan?”
May you like
Vanessa smiled.
“Before you ever knew Grant’s name.”
