Chapter 3 - Web of Lies
Two weeks had passed since the disastrous engagement party, and the fallout had been nothing short of catastrophic for the Mitchell family.
True to her word, Eleanor Carter had pulled all financial backing from George Mitchell’s logistics firm. Deprived of the crucial Carter Global underwriting, the bank had pulled their lines of credit. The news leaked to the press almost instantly. Rumors of the family's impending bankruptcy began to circulate, but the real killing blow came from an unexpected source: the internet.
Eleanor hadn't posted the video herself. Instead, she had sent the raw footage to a select group of high-profile board members and close associates to explain why she was cutting ties with the Mitchells. But with thirty guests present at the party, several of whom had recorded parts of the incident themselves, it didn't take long for the story to break.
A local Nashville blogger leaked a twenty-second clip of Vanessa blasting a "homeless woman" with a garden hose while laughing hysterically. Within forty-eight hours, the video had gone viral on Facebook, racking up millions of views, shares, and tens of thousands of furious comments.
"Absolutely disgusting behavior!" one popular comment read. "This is how the rich treat people they think are beneath them. Cancel them immediately!" another wrote.
The public outcry was swift and merciless. Vanessa’s social media accounts were flooded with hate, forcing her to deactivate them. The country club revoked the family's membership, and the vendors for the lavish wedding—florists, caterers, and decorators—all released public statements canceling their contracts with Vanessa to protect their own reputations.
Inside the Mitchell mansion, the atmosphere was suffocating.
"We're ruined! We're completely ruined!" George Mitchell screamed, throwing a stack of legal documents across his mahogany desk. "The creditors are seizing the logistics offices on Friday. We have to sell the estate just to cover the outstanding debts! And it’s all because of your spoiled, arrogant daughter!"
Patricia was weeping on the sofa, clutching a glass of gin. "George, please, yelling won't solve anything! We have to find a way to make Eleanor Carter forgive us. There has to be a price. Everyone has a price!"
"Eleanor Carter has more money than God, Patricia! She doesn't need our money!" George roared. He glared at Vanessa, who was sitting in the corner, her face pale, her eyes red and sunken. She looked a shadow of her former self.
"I can fix this," Vanessa whispered, her voice trembling but laced with a sudden, desperate venom.
"Fix this? How?!" George demanded.
Vanessa stood up, clutching her phone. "Ethan still loves me. He has to. Two years of our lives can't just disappear because of one mistake. He's just acting angry because of his mother. If I can get him alone, away from Eleanor, I can convince him to take me back. And if he takes me back, Eleanor will have no choice but to save us to protect her son’s happiness."
"And how do you plan on getting Ethan alone?" Patricia asked, wiping her tears with a trembling hand. "He blocked your number. He blocked all of us."
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Vanessa’s lips curled into a desperate, twisted smile. "He blocked my number, yes. But he didn't block his old college friend, Marcus. Marcus still works at the charity foundation Ethan manages. I know Ethan’s schedule. He’s hosting a charity auction in downtown Nashville tonight."
She walked over to the mirror, looking at her disheveled hair and pale face. "I'm going to that auction. And I’m going to make sure Ethan remembers exactly why he fell in love with me."
