Vanessa didn’t believe us.
We found her in her interior cabin on deck two, getting ready for the captain’s dinner. The room was so small that with Dad, Mom, Uncle Ray, and me crammed inside, we could barely move. Brandon had gone to pick up his rented tuxedo from the formal wear shop on deck five. That cost $89, which he charged to Vanessa’s onboard account.
She was sitting on the narrow bed curling her hair. When she saw me in the doorway, her face twisted.
“What is she doing here?”
“Vanessa, honey, we need to talk to you,” Mom said gently.
Dad showed her the court records on my laptop. Vanessa read them in silence, and when she finished, she shoved the laptop back at me so hard I almost dropped it.
“This is fake,” she said. “Millie made this up.”
“Vanessa, those are public court records,” I said. “Anybody can look them up. I’ll show you how.”
“You’re just jealous!” She stood up, and her curling iron clattered against the tiny vanity. “You’ve always been jealous of me! You can’t stand that I’m getting married and you’re thirty-three and alone in your stupid condo with your stupid spreadsheets!”
“Vanessa,” Dad said sharply.
“No! She ruined this whole trip! She took away our drinks and our rooms and our excursions, and now she’s trying to ruin my engagement!” Vanessa was crying now, mascara running. “Why can’t you let me have one thing, Millie? One thing!”
I didn’t argue. I just put my laptop down on her bed with the screen still open to Kelsey Morrow’s complaint.
“Read it when you’re alone,” I said quietly. “Kelsey Morrow is real. She lives in Englewood. She’s a dental hygienist. She lent Brandon $23,400 out of her 401(k) for a duplex renovation, and there was no duplex. He stopped answering her calls three weeks after the wire went through.” I swallowed. “Vanessa, I don’t want you to be the next Kelsey. That’s all.”
Then I walked out.
Dad followed me into the narrow hallway, with the engine thrumming under our feet.
“She’ll come around,” he said.
“Maybe,” I said. “Maybe not. But she knows now.”
Ethan Blake is a skilled Creative Content Specialist with a talent for crafting engaging and thought-provoking narratives. With a strong background in storytelling and digital content creation, Ethan brings a unique perspective to his role at TheArchivists, where he curates and produces captivating content for a global audience.
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