Chapter 31 - THE VISIT
Six months later, Daniel visited Vanessa in prison.
He did not go to forgive her. He went because Lily had asked whether her mother had ever loved them.
Vanessa sat behind glass in a plain blue uniform.
“Did you?” Daniel asked.
Her eyes filled. “Every day.”
“Then why were we expendable?”
“Because I kept telling myself the next lie would be the last one.”
She admitted she had planted the death certificate in the drawer after deciding to cooperate. Voss arrived to retrieve it; Noah entered first. Her rage had been fear stripped of disguise.
“You could have told me.”
“Claire told me you would open that drawer only when the comfortable version of your life finally became unbearable.”
Daniel stood.
“What should I tell Lily?”
May you like
Vanessa pressed her hand to the glass. “Tell her I loved her. And tell her love without courage can still destroy the people it claims to protect.”
Daniel left without touching the glass.
