Chapter 8 - THE WOMAN USING MY FACE
Vault security video showed a woman in a dark wig, glasses, and a medical mask.
She resembled me from a distance.
She carried my passport copy and a notarized medical authorization naming Arthur as representative.
The vault officer noticed the signature date occurred after my hospital admission and requested live confirmation.
The woman left.
Paige Nolan identified her as Victoria’s image consultant, Lauren Wells.
Lauren had helped the family manage press appearances.
She denied impersonating me until investigators showed her vehicle entering the garage.
Then she asked for counsel.
Her phone contained photographs of my clothing, hairstyle, and identification.
A message from Victoria said:
No conversation. Present papers. Leave if questioned.
The plan relied less on perfect impersonation than on professional confidence.
People often accepted documents when the person carrying them behaved as if acceptance were routine.
The trust company preserved the archive.
Inside was the duplicate founder certificate, my grandmother’s correspondence, and a private agreement signed during the 1980s conversion.
The agreement granted Apartment 12A a portion of any payment for unused development rights.
The amount could exceed $30 million under the Vance proposal.
That money belonged to me if the redevelopment proceeded lawfully.
I had not known.
The Vances could have negotiated to purchase my rights.
Instead, they used my identity to create VSV Urban Partners and direct the payment through a private lender.
Under their structure:
VSV would receive the founder payout.
Most of it would repay the $18 million loan.
Consulting fees would flow to Victoria and Arthur.
Diego’s company would receive the redevelopment contract.
I would appear to own the entity while seeing little of the money.
My apartment was valuable.
The hidden rights were more valuable.
The family’s motive sharpened.
Still, one question remained.
Why did VSV exist before the Vances formally proposed redevelopment?
Company records showed it had acquired options in the Ashford almost four years earlier.
Diego and I had been married only three.
The option strategy began before our wedding.
Rachel requested our earliest communications.
Diego first contacted me through a charity gala hosted by the hospital network.
I thought we met by chance beside the coat check.
Natalie admitted the gala invitation came from Victoria.
The family already knew I owned 12A.
They had studied the founder shares.
Diego had received a background file on me before introducing himself.
The marriage itself might have begun as an acquisition strategy.
When I confronted Natalie, she looked away.
“Did Diego know?”
“Yes.”
“Before speaking to me?”
“Yes.”
“Did he ever love me?”
Natalie’s eyes filled.
“I think that became the problem.”
May you like
Love had not stopped the scheme.
It had made Diego believe he could keep both me and the benefit of deceiving me.
