“You Almost Married Her?” Millionaire’s Wife Mocked Her—Unaware of Who Just Arrived!
Chapter 5
Vanessa confronted Richard in the parking garage.
“You told her?”
Richard looked exhausted.
“Not everything.”
“That’s already too much.”
“She deserves to know.”
Vanessa laughed.
“She deserves nothing.”
Richard turned sharply.
“Don’t talk about her like that.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re wrong.”
Vanessa’s expression hardened.
“You’re throwing away everything for a woman who left you years ago.”
“She didn’t leave me.”
“You chose your family.”
“And I regret it.”
Vanessa stared at him.
For the first time, she realized Richard’s marriage had never been what she thought.
She had married a man who was still carrying another woman’s name inside him.
But the problem was bigger.
If Emily gained control of the trust, Vanessa’s own financial interests could be exposed.
She called someone that night.
“It’s happening.”
A man’s voice answered.
“Then stop it.”
“I can’t.”
“You can.”
“What if Jonathan Reed is involved?”
Silence.
Then:
“Especially then.”
Meanwhile, Emily and Jonathan reviewed the documents.
They discovered something strange.
Several companies connected to the foundation had been dissolved shortly after receiving large payments.
One contractor appeared repeatedly.
Sterling Development Services.
Emily frowned.
“That’s Richard’s company.”
“Technically, yes.”
“Who owns it?”
Jonathan’s attorney answered.
“A holding company.”
“Who owns the holding company?”
The attorney hesitated.
“That’s where it becomes complicated.”
The ownership trail ended at a private trust.
The trustee was an attorney named Martin Hale.
Emily recognized the name.
“He represented my grandfather.”
Jonathan nodded.
“Exactly.”
Her grandfather had died years earlier.
He had been Charles Sterling’s business partner before their relationship collapsed.
Emily suddenly realized that the story was older than she had imagined.
Jonathan found another document.
A handwritten ledger.
The dates went back fifteen years.
Payments.
Transfers.
Property purchases.
And beside several entries were two initials.
C.S.
Charles Sterling.
Emily’s heart raced.
“Is this enough?”
“For suspicion,” Jonathan said.
“Not proof.”
“Correct.”
She appreciated that.
She didn’t want revenge.
She wanted the truth.
They continued.
One entry caught Emily’s attention.
A payment had been made two days before her mother entered the hospital.
Emily’s face went pale.
“What’s this?”
Jonathan examined it.
“We need to know.”
The payment had gone to a medical consulting company.
Emily’s mother had been receiving treatment through the same network.
Her hands began to shake.
“Are you saying my mother’s illness was caused by them?”
Jonathan immediately shook his head.
“No.”
His voice was firm.
“We cannot make that claim without medical evidence.”
Emily nodded.
The distinction mattered.
She didn’t want grief to turn into certainty without proof.
But someone had moved money around her mother’s treatment.
That fact could be verified.
They contacted the clinic.
The records were old.
Most had been archived.
But one nurse still remembered Laura.
Her name was Grace Miller.
Grace agreed to meet.
And when Emily showed her the payment record, Grace became visibly uncomfortable.
“I remember this.”
Emily leaned forward.
“What?”
Grace looked at her.
“Your mother asked me about that company.”
“Why?”
“She believed someone was paying for information about her.”
