Chapter 9 - Vanessa Was Ryan's Real Partner
Vanessa Grant was not related to Melissa.
The surname was coincidence.
She was a former employee at Carter Biotech.
Richard remembered her.
“She worked in compliance.”
Emily frowned.
“When?”
“Four years ago.”
Vanessa had been fired after an internal investigation into altered vendor records.
Ryan had defended her.
Richard had forgotten that detail.
Now it mattered.
Police found Vanessa at a hotel near the airport.
Her laptop contained copies of Emily’s prenatal schedule.
Hospital floor plans.
Carter Biotech login credentials.
Draft custody papers.
And correspondence with Ryan dating back nearly two years.
Madison read one email and went silent.
Emily noticed.
“What?”
Madison handed the phone to Julia.
The email was from Ryan.
Madison is useful because she signs without asking too many questions.
Madison’s face collapsed.
Emily understood that pain.
She had lived it too.
Vanessa had helped create Westbridge Development.
She had created the fake medical screenshots.
She had also prepared the forged passport.
Ryan had not been improvising.
He had built a system.
Richard asked the detective, “Why Sophie?”
The answer came from Julia.
“Maybe it wasn’t primarily about Sophie.”
Everyone looked at her.
She opened Carter Biotech’s shareholder agreement.
Emily’s twenty-six percent stake had a succession clause.
If Emily died, her shares transferred into a trust for her biological child.
The child’s surviving parent would have significant influence over that trust until a court appointed an independent trustee.
Emily felt cold.
Richard stared at the page.
“No.”
Julia did not accuse Ryan of planning murder.
There was no evidence of that.
But the financial incentive was undeniable.
Emily looked down at Sophie.
For the first time, she understood why Ryan had spent months constructing a story that she was unstable.
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He did not need Emily dead.
He only needed everyone to believe she could not be trusted.
