Chapter 73 A Man
Since they had established the fact that Liam is not responsible, she wanted to know who was. She wanted leverage. She wanted to know who, Rebecca the most responsible girl, had cheated on Liam with.
Rebecca shook her head weakly. "I can’t. I won’t."
Vanessa’s lips curved into a cold smile. "Even if it means you die?"
Rebecca swallowed, tears falling freely. "Even then, I still won't say a word to you."
Vanessa straightened.
"Suit yourself then," she said coldly. "You’re going to die anyway. Only then can I and my father own everything that belonged to your father."
Rebecca’s eyes widened, her breath catching painfully in her throat.
“Your… your father?” she whispered again, her voice barely louder than the silence around them. “What do you mean your father?”
For a second, Vanessa only stared at her. Then she laughed.
It was not a happy laugh. It was loud, sharp, and full of something broken. The sound bounced off the walls and seemed to pierce straight through Rebecca’s head.
“My father,” Vanessa repeated mockingly. “Why do you sound so shocked?”
Rebecca swallowed hard, her chest rising and falling too fast. “You said your father. But— but your father is dead. That’s what your mother said. That’s what everyone said.”
Vanessa laughed even harder, bending slightly at the waist as if the words amused her deeply.
“Did you really believe that?” she asked, straightening slowly. “Did you really think I would remain still, miserable, unloved, and broken, and not go looking for the only person who ever truly loved me?”
Rebecca shook her head weakly. “I don’t understand,” she said, tears spilling over again. “What are you talking about, Vanessa?”
Vanessa’s laughter faded. The smile on her face slowly disappeared, replaced by something dark and heavy. She walked a few steps away, then turned back, as if she was deciding how much to reveal.
“After years of being ignored,” Vanessa began quietly, “after years of feeling invisible in your father's house… someone found me.”
Rebecca listened, her heart pounding painfully.
“He started sending me things,” Vanessa continued. “Gifts. Letters. Money. He told me I was special. That I was smart. That I deserved better than what I was getting.”
She scoffed softly. “At first, I thought it was a trick. I thought maybe someone was playing games with me.”
Rebecca’s lips trembled. “And… and who was it?”
Vanessa’s eyes flickered with emotion. “A man,” she said. “A man who said he had been looking for me for years. A man who said he was my father.”
Rebecca’s head spun. “No… no, that can’t be true.”
“I thought so too,” Vanessa said quickly. “I thought he was lying. So I asked my mom again and she repeated what she already told me. She said my father was dead. She said he died before I was born. She said that was why she had to marry your father.”
Her voice cracked slightly, then hardened again. “But she lied.”
Rebecca’s heart began to race even faster. “Vanessa—”
“He showed me proof,” Vanessa interrupted. “Letters. Old pictures. Records. Things no stranger could know. He told me his name was Henry. He told me how my mother took me away from him,” Vanessa continued, her voice shaking now with buried pain. “How she told him I was better off without him, just because he was arrested for theft. My mother erased him from my life like he never existed just because of theft. She never for once considered me and how much love I would've gotten from my father.”
She clenched her fists. “From that moment I found out all of those things, I knew one thing. He was the only person I could trust.”
Rebecca stared at her, her mind struggling to catch up. “So… all this love, these gifts… they were from him and you've been in contact with him?”
“Yes,” Vanessa said. “He listened to me. He didn’t shut me up. He didn’t compare me to you. He didn’t make me feel small.”
Her eyes burned. “Unlike everyone else. It's only been two years but it feels like I have everything I could ever ask for.”
Rebecca felt her chest tighten painfully. “Vanessa, even if all this is true, how does that explain—”
“Revenge, you fool,” Vanessa said sharply.
The word made Rebecca’s stomach twist.
“When I told him about my life,” Vanessa went on, “about how I was treated, about how your father controlled everything, about how my own mother supported him, and how you… you stood at the center of it all…”
Rebecca shook her head desperately. “I never meant to hurt you.”
Vanessa ignored her. “He asked me one simple question,” she said. “‘Do you want them to pay?’”
Rebecca’s breath caught. “What? Vanessa… what did you do?” she asked, shaking her head and hoping it wasn't what her mind was telling her.
Vanessa smiled slowly. “At first, I thought he was just talking. I thought he was angry on my behalf. I didn’t think he would actually act.”