Vanessa’s mask shattered.
“Ryan? Baby, wait! It’s a misunderstanding!” she stammered, frantically leaning toward the phone.
The speaker crackled. Ryan’s voice was absolute ice.
“The wedding is off, Vanessa. Pack your things.”
*Click.*
The panic in Vanessa’s eyes instantly mutated into pure venom. She glared at the older woman, her reflection warping in the jewelry store’s mirrored pillars.
“You set me up,” Vanessa hissed. “Fine. But I know Ryan’s secrets. I know corporate secrets. I’ll drag the Whitmore name through the tabloids until your stock plummets. You’re going to pay me millions to stay quiet.”
Catherine didn’t flinch. She just smiled. A calm, terrifyingly predatory smile.
She slipped the phone back into her pristine white blazer, then pulled out a folded legal document, sliding it across the glass display case.
“Open it,” Catherine commanded.
Vanessa snatched the paper. Her eyes scanned the text. The remaining color completely drained from her face.
“What… what is this?”
“That,” Catherine said, her voice smooth as silk, “is the deed to your mother’s house. The mortgage on your sister’s business. And the entirety of your hidden credit debt, which my holding company quietly purchased this morning.”
Vanessa’s hands began to shake violently.
“You told me you wanted everything,” Catherine whispered, stepping close enough to see the sheer terror in the younger woman’s eyes. “So I bought everything you love. If you ever contact my son again, if you ever utter our name to the press, I will bankrupt your entire family before lunch.”
Vanessa stood paralyzed. The massive diamond pendant on her chest suddenly felt like a heavy chain.
Catherine patted her shoulder one last time.
“Keep the necklace, darling. Consider it a severance package.”
Catherine turned and walked away, her heels clicking sharply across the marble floor, leaving Vanessa completely, utterly destroyed.