Chapter 4 - The Shadow of Harrison Vance
The silence that followed Élise's declaration was deafening.
Marguerite sat frozen, her hand suspended in mid-air as she digested the sudden, monstrous revelation.
"Your... your father?" Marguerite asked, her voice dropping to an incredulous whisper. "Harrison Vance?"
Harrison Vance was a powerful, highly influential real estate developer in Richmond—a wealthy, sharp-suited man who had attended the wedding earlier that evening, sitting in the front row with a cold, detached smile while sipping vintage champagne. He was a man who owned half the commercial properties in the county and was known for his ruthless business tactics.
"My father's firm was bidding against the university's engineering team for the state infrastructure contract," Élise explained, her chest heaving as the long-buried truth finally rushed out of her. "It was a fifty-million-dollar project. My father knew that if the university team—led by Camille's brilliant design—won the competition, his company would go bankrupt."
Tears streamed down Élise's face as she rocked back and forth on the bed.
"The night before the submission, my father came to my dorm room," Élise continued, her voice trembling with ancient terror. "He asked to borrow my laptop under the pretense of checking his email. I didn't know... I had no idea what he was doing! He used my administrator access to hack into the dean's private drive, downloaded the blueprints, and then had one of his security guards plant the hard copy in Camille's locker to discredit the university team."
"Merciful God..." Marguerite whispered, placing a hand over her heart.
"I found out two days later when the campus police arrested Camille," Élise wept. "I went to my father’s office. I screamed at him, I begged him, I threatened to go to the police! But he... he grabbed me by my hair, locked me in his basement office for three days, and told me that if I ever said a word, he would make sure my younger brother took the fall for drug possession! He had set up a fake paper trail against my brother months in advance just to keep me quiet!"
Marguerite stared at the girl in absolute horror. "He threatened his own children?"
"He is a monster, Mom!" Élise cried out, grabbing Marguerite’s hands again. "When Camille... when she died... I wanted to end my life too. I couldn't bear the guilt of my family's name. I cut all ties with my father, dropped out of the architecture program, and moved here to Oakhaven Springs to hide from his shadow. I met Nathan... and for the first time in my life, I felt safe. I thought God was giving me a second chance!"
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Élise looked toward the locked bedroom door, her eyes brimming with fresh horror.
"When I opened the wedding album tonight," Élise whispered, shuddering violently, "I found Camille's suicide note pasted inside. And then Nathan walked out of the bathroom... looking at me with eyes full of hatred. He told me that my father's blood ran in my veins, and that I was going to pay for every single tear Camille ever shed."
