Chapter 13 - Vanessa Comes Back

Maya put Noah on speaker.

"Where are you?"

"My apartment. Vanessa is downstairs. I saw her through the window."

Detective Ortiz grabbed the phone.

"Noah, lock the door. Move away from windows. Officers are coming. Do not confront her."

"She already texted me."

"What did she say?"

Noah swallowed.

"She wants the original drive."

I felt a slow chill spread across my skin.

Vanessa was not running.

She was still trying to clean up.

Police reached Noah's building within minutes, but Vanessa was gone by the time they arrived.

A camera in the parking garage caught her leaving in a rented sedan.

Inside Noah's mailbox, officers found a note.

ONE COPY. ONE LIFE. CHOOSE.

Claire wanted me moved somewhere Ryan and Vanessa did not know.

I agreed.

The police arranged a hotel under another name while they searched for Vanessa.

That night, I lay awake beside Maya, listening to the hum of the air conditioner.

"Do you hate him?" she asked quietly.

I knew she meant Ryan.

I stared at the ceiling.

"I don't know."

"You don't have to decide tonight."

"I think I hate that I miss the person I thought he was."

Maya reached across the space between our beds and squeezed my hand.

"That person existed because you loved him honestly. That's not the same thing as him deserving it."

At 4:30 a.m., contractions woke me.

Sharp.

Regular.

Too close together.

Maya was dressed before I finished saying her name.

At the hospital, the doctor examined me and ordered medication to slow preterm labor.

"Stress may be contributing," she said.

I almost laughed.

Stress felt like a small word for what my body had been carrying.

By sunrise, the contractions began to ease.

Then Detective Ortiz entered the room.

"We found Vanessa's rental car."

"Where?"

"At the estate."

My throat tightened.

"Why would she go back there?"

Ortiz held up an evidence bag.

Inside was a small brass key.

"Because according to Noah, Ryan kept a fireproof safe behind the wine cellar wall."

"What's in it?"

"We don't know. Vanessa got there first."

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Then Ortiz looked directly at me.

"And the safe is open."