Chapter 6
## Vanessa
Vanessa pled guilty to conspiracy to poison Eleanor, assault against Hannah, obstruction, and financial crimes tied to Charles’s network.
Because she cooperated against Charles and Victor, she received eight years instead of far more.
Hannah visited once.
Not immediately.
Two years later.
Vanessa looked different.
Older.
Less polished.
Human.
“You came.”
“Don’t make it symbolic.”
Vanessa almost smiled.
“You really are my sister.”
Hannah stared.
“Biologically.”
“Yes.”
“Emotionally?”
“No.”
Vanessa nodded.
“Fair.”
Silence.
Then Hannah asked:
“Did Lillian know?”
Vanessa’s face changed.
“Before she died, yes.”
“When?”
“When I was twelve.”
“And?”
“She stayed.”
“With Charles?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She said I was her daughter.”
Hannah’s throat tightened.
Lillian had raised Vanessa.
Just as Thomas raised Hannah.
Two social parents holding daughters biology did not create.
“What was she like?”
“Kind.”
Vanessa started crying.
“She was the only person in that house who was.”
For the first time, Hannah felt grief for her.
Not absolution.
Grief.
“Did she know about me?”
“Yes.”
“Did she ever try to contact Mom?”
“She wrote one letter.”
“Charles intercepted it.”
“Of course.”
Vanessa slid an envelope across table.
“I found it after he fled.”
Hannah opened.
Lillian’s handwriting:
Margaret,
I do not know how to ask forgiveness for loving the child stolen from you.
I cannot give her up now without hurting her again.
But if there is ever a way for these girls to know each other without being punished for what Charles did, I hope someone braver than me finds it.
Hannah cried quietly.
Vanessa looked away.
Before leaving, Hannah said:
“I don’t forgive you.”
“I know.”
“But I don’t hate you every day anymore.”
Vanessa nodded.
“For now, that’s more than I deserve.”
Maybe.
May you like
Maybe not.
Hannah left without deciding.
