Vanessa’s Choice
Chapter 07 - Vanessa’s Choice
The Obsidian navigation archive contained a destination entered remotely after the Northpoint signal.
Blackridge Lake.
Vanessa recognized it.
Her family owned a private testing lodge there.
Adrian had taken her as a child, but the lower garage was always locked.
Federal agents prepared a search warrant.
Sterling Crown’s board called Vanessa.
They offered her temporary chairmanship if she publicly rejected Malik’s trust and described Aisha’s videos as manipulated.
The board believed investors would follow a familiar Sterling before a twelve-year-old heir.
Vanessa asked one question.
“Did my father tell you Aisha was alive?”
Silence answered.
She declined the position.
News outlets replayed footage of her laughing at Malik in the showroom.
Online comments called her cruel, fake, and opportunistic.
She did not defend herself.
At Northpoint, she apologized to Malik privately.
“I saw your clothes before I saw you.”
Malik looked at her teal dress, now covered by a borrowed field jacket.
“I saw your dress first too.”
“Did it make you think I was mean?”
“No. Your face did that.”
Vanessa laughed despite herself.
Then Malik became serious.
“Helping now doesn’t erase before.”
“I know.”
“Good.”
They traveled to Blackridge Lake.
The lodge garage contained prototype cars and a private tunnel.
The tunnel ended at an underground boathouse.
A woman’s bracelet lay near the water.
Engraved inside were the words:
AISHA — BUILD WHAT BRINGS THEM HOME.
Eleanor had given it to her daughter before engineering school.
A boat had left the dock twelve hours earlier.
May you like
Its tracking signal ended near the international border.
Someone had moved Aisha again.
