Vanessa pointed toward the ruined dress.
“This is exactly what I mean. Camille has been dead for six years, and she still has more authority in this house than I do.”
Marcus looked toward the gown.
Then something inside him changed.
Not because Vanessa admitted jealousy.
Because she still saw the dress as evidence against herself.
Not against what she had done.
Marcus walked toward the bench.
The black handbag sat beside his coat.
Vanessa watched him.
“What are you doing?”
He lifted it.
The bag was a black Hermès Birkin Vanessa had purchased three weeks earlier.
When she came home with it, Marcus laughed at the price.
She told him it was an investment.
Something that would appreciate.
He did not understand buying handbags as assets, but he had money and she loved it, so he shrugged.
Now he held it by the handles.
Vanessa frowned.
“Put that down.”
Marcus looked at the scissors still in her hand.
“Give me those.”
She stared.
“What?”
“The scissors.”
“No.”
Marcus extended his hand.
Vanessa looked around the room.
Nora was still by the doorway.
Lillian stood beside Maya.
Every face watched.
Finally Vanessa placed the shears in Marcus’s palm.
He set her handbag on the bench.
Her expression changed.
“Marcus.”
He opened the blades.
“No.”
He positioned them against the leather near one side panel.
Vanessa rushed forward.
“What are you doing?”
Marcus closed the blades.
The thick leather resisted.
Then split.
Vanessa screamed.
“Are you insane?”
He cut again.
A long opening appeared down the side.
Vanessa grabbed his wrist.
“Stop!”
Marcus pulled free.
She stared at the damaged bag.
“You destroyed it!”
Marcus looked at her.
“It’s just leather.”
Her mouth opened.
No sound came.
Maya stared.
Even Lillian looked surprised.
Marcus put the scissors down.
Vanessa’s face twisted.
“That bag cost twenty-eight thousand dollars.”
Marcus looked at the ruined pink gown.
“Then imagine how stupid it would sound if I told you I could buy another.”
Vanessa’s eyes filled with rage.
“That is not the same.”
“No.”
Marcus nodded.
“It isn’t.”
He set the bag upright.
The cut side collapsed.
Several items slid onto the bench.
A wallet.
Cosmetics.
Keys.
A charging cable.
An envelope.
A second phone.
Vanessa froze.
Marcus looked at the phone.
Then at her.
“What is that?”
She reached for it.
He picked it up first.
“Give me my property.”
“You have another phone?”