Skin and Secrets

HER NAME (part two )

At exactly 5:00pm, Frank called again.

"Meet me at the diner," he said. "I found something."

Vanessa drove across town. Her hands were steady, but her heart was pounding.

Frank was already there, a manila envelope on the table. He slid it toward her.

"Nina Black grew up in a small town about three hours from here," he said. "Her mother died three years ago. Cancer."

Vanessa opened the envelope. Inside were copies of old newspaper articles, a high school yearbook photo, and a death certificate.

Her eyes stopped on a name.

Mei-Lin Black.

Her mother. Their mother.

"Nina's mother," Frank continued, "had another daughter. Older. Name of Vanessa Black — same as you. Probably a coincidence, but I thought you should know. The older daughter married a wealthy businessman and moved to the city. The younger daughter stayed with the mother until she died."

Vanessa stared at the death certificate. Mei-Lin Black. Died March 12, three years ago.

She had missed the funeral. She had stolen the jewelry. She had told herself she didn't care.

Now her sister was sleeping with her husband.

Nina. Not Nina Vance. Nina Black. Her sister.

"There's more," Frank said. "The older daughter — the one with your name — she and the mother had a falling out. Something about jewelry. The mother cut her out of the will. The younger daughter got everything."

Vanessa folded the papers and put them in her purse.

"Thank you, Frank," she said. "I don't need you anymore."

She walked out of the diner and sat in her car.

She didn't cry. She didn't scream. She just sat there, staring at the steering wheel, while the world moved around her.

Nina came back for revenge. She took the job. She seduced Adrian. She's been lying to everyone.

And Vanessa had played right into her hands.

---

She drove home in a daze.

Adrian wasn't there. The house was empty. She walked through the rooms — the kitchen where she had cooked dinner, the living room where they had hosted the family dinner, the bedroom where she had slept alone for years.

She thought about Nina. About the way she had looked at Adrian. About the way he had looked at her.

My sister. My husband.

She picked up her phone. Scrolled to Derek's contact.

She didn't call him. She just stared at his name.

You're the only one who understands, she thought. You're the only one who's as broken as I am.

She put the phone down and poured herself a drink.