Vanessa was.
And who she had never been.
The charitable woman who visited children’s hospitals?
Paid photographers had been scheduled before every visit.
The luxury gifts she bought my mother?
Charged directly to my company account.
The businesswoman who claimed to have built her own career?
Her former employer described her as “highly skilled at finding wealthy men.”
But the worst part wasn’t the lies.
The worst part was the recordings.
Hidden audio.
Private conversations.
One recording was only forty-two seconds long.
I listened to it seven times.
Vanessa’s voice
