He Humiliated Me Until He Learned Who My Father Was Chapter 01
The Woman Who Knew My Past
The first thing Vanessa Reed says to me at Ethan’s company gala is that my mother stole someone else’s husband.
“So you’re Avery.” She looks me up and down. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Ethan shifts beside me. “Vanessa.”
“What?” She laughs. “I’m just saying hello.”
Then she turns back to me.
“I heard your mother was the other woman before she married your father. And you followed in her footsteps, didn’t you? Dating rich men until you finally landed Ethan.”
The table goes quiet.
Vanessa doesn’t stop.
“And the plastic surgery? Honestly, your surgeon did an amazing job.”
A few people laugh.
I don’t.
Because I’ve finally remembered where I’ve seen her face.
Vanessa Reed.
A woman I’d seen in one of my firm’s archived case files.
She’d had affairs with multiple wealthy married men, and one of those relationships had ended badly enough to require lawyers and a substantial settlement.
I quietly open the voice recorder on my phone.
Occupational habit.
People can deny what they said.
Recordings are harder to argue with.
Vanessa reaches for her wine.
“So, Avery, what do you do?”
“I’m a lawyer.”
“Really?”
She sounds amused.
“How much does that pay?”
“Enough.”
“Oh, come on. We’re all friends here.”
I glance at Ethan.
He looks uncomfortable, but says nothing.
So I answer.
“A little over three hundred thousand last year.”
Someone nearly chokes on his drink.
Vanessa bursts out laughing.
“Three hundred thousand?”
Her eyes slide over my dress.
“For legal work?”
The implication is obvious.
“That’s enough,” Ethan says.
Vanessa raises both hands. “Relax. I’m kidding.”
She reaches across the table for a bottle of wine and knocks her glass over.
Red wine splashes across her dress.
She gasps.
Then immediately looks at me.
“Avery!”
I stare at her.
“I didn’t touch you.”
“You bumped the table.”
“No, I didn’t.”
Her eyes fill with tears almost instantly.
“Ethan, forget it. It’s just a dress.”
Ethan turns to me.
“Just apologize.”
“For what?”
“Vanessa wouldn’t lie about something this stupid.”
There it is.
Not What happened?
Not Are you okay?
Just the assumption that if Vanessa says I did something, I must have done it.
“I didn’t touch her.”
Vanessa gives a shaky laugh.
“It’s fine. Maybe she’s just nervous because she knows I remember her from before.”
I look at her.
“Before what?” Her smile returns.
“Before the surgery.”
She leans closer. “You really don’t remember me?”
“No.”
“Funny.”
She pulls out her phone. “Because I remember exactly what you used to look like.”
My recorder is still running.
I smile. “Then show me.”
Vanessa’s expression brightens.
“Gladly.”