The Woman in the Teal Dress
Chapter 03 - The Woman in the Teal Dress
Vanessa Sterling had spent her life preparing to inherit a company her father said belonged to their family.
Her grandfather founded the original dealership.
Her father expanded it into a global luxury network.
Aisha Carter, according to the history Vanessa learned, was a brilliant employee whose dangerous obsession with experimental speed caused her death.
The video contradicted everything.
Vanessa turned to Julian.
“Why did no one tell me about the trust?”
“Because your father removed every director who asked.”
“That is not an answer.”
“It is the only honest one I have.”
Malik studied her.
“Did you know my mom?”
Vanessa hesitated.
She had been fourteen when Aisha died. She remembered an engineer with oil on her sleeves who allowed Vanessa to sit inside unfinished cars and taught her how steering geometry worked.
Aisha once told her that luxury meant nothing if the machine did not protect the person inside.
Vanessa had forgotten the sentence.
Or chosen not to remember it.
“I knew her a little,” she said.
“Did she like you?”
The question hurt more than accusation.
“I think she wanted me to become better than this place.”
Malik looked toward the guests still waiting beyond the glass.
“Then why were you laughing?”
Vanessa had no defense.
She had seen a poor-looking child near a valuable object and assumed the object deserved protection from him.
She had not asked his name.
The lounge doors opened.
Chairman Adrian Sterling entered with attorneys and private security.
He was silver-haired, calm, and dressed in a black tuxedo.
He looked at Malik as though seeing an invoice he believed had been canceled.
“Give me the key.”
Malik closed his hand around it.
“My grandmother said not to.”
Adrian smiled.
“Your grandmother is confused.”
A new voice came from the doorway.
“No, Adrian. I am tired.”
Eleanor Carter entered using a cane.
Malik’s grandmother had followed the bus in an old pickup truck.
She held a metal document box against her chest.
May you like
Adrian’s calm vanished.
He had told the board Eleanor died three years earlier.
