Chapter 8 - VANESSA TALKED
Vanessa Cole eventually hired her own attorney.
The employer investigation had placed her at risk because of the notarization process and undisclosed relationship between Derek and Meridian.
She agreed to cooperate with civil discovery.
Her version:
Derek told her I understood the trust.
He told her I wanted him to handle “all complex decisions” because pregnancy overwhelmed me.
She believed that at first.
Then came the incapacity folder.
Vanessa had helped Derek assemble it.
Not medical opinions.
Administrative documents.
She scanned my messages.
Organized dates.
Created a spreadsheet titled:
EMMA FUNCTIONAL DECLINE.
I felt violated reading the title.
Vanessa said she became uncomfortable when Derek asked her to contact a physician pretending to be his assistant.
She refused.
Then she asked Caleb, her brother, whether Derek’s investment should be returned.
Caleb told her it was none of her business.
That created conflict within Meridian too.
Vanessa eventually resigned from Derek’s employer.
Did she commit misconduct?
Yes.
She acknowledged notarial procedures were not handled as carefully as they should have been.
Whether disciplinary action followed belonged to the relevant state authority.
She was not the mastermind.
She had also facilitated something dangerous.
Both facts existed.
Then Vanessa produced one message.
DEREK:
Once Emma is certified, I can consolidate everything and stop asking permission.
VANESSA:
What if no doctor signs?
DEREK:
Someone will.
That sentence destroyed his claim that the incapacity provisions were merely routine estate planning.
He intended to use them.
He expected to find a medical professional willing to certify me eventually.
Why?
Control over trust assets.
Control over my inheritance.
That was the next shock.
My grandmother had died when I was pregnant.
I was due to receive approximately $430,000 through her estate.
Derek knew.
The distribution had not occurred yet.
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If I became “incapacitated” after the money entered an account contributed to the family structure, Derek hoped to control it.
He had built the trust partly around money I had not even received.
