Chapter 12 - The Father Who Knew
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Gregory Sterling arrived at the Vitale house on Monday morning without a driver.
He parked his own car below the steps.
He carried a heavy leather case in both hands as if it weighed more than paper should.
Thomas Reed met him in the study with Alessandro waiting beside the desk.
Claire was not asked to serve coffee.
Claire was asked to sit near the door because her statement was part of the record Gregory had finally agreed to discuss.
Vanessa arrived ten minutes later with her attorney.
She wore a cream suit and the composed expression she had once used for photographers.
She stopped when she saw her father's case on the desk.
She asked why no one had told her he was bringing documents.
Gregory looked at his daughter for a long time.
He said she had hidden enough documents from everyone in that room.
The silence after his words changed the temperature of the study.
Alessandro asked Gregory to state for the record when he first learned about the stolen designs.
Gregory opened the case.
He removed a bound internal ledger from Sterling Textile Group.
He removed a folder of printed emails with dates highlighted in yellow.
He removed factory order forms signed under Derek Lawson's direction.
He placed each item in a separate pile with shaking hands.
Gregory said he first saw a Bennett pattern inside a Sterling Rose sample book months ago.
He said he recognized the little-flower embroidery because Vanessa had shown him photographs of Patricia's shop years earlier.
He said he asked Vanessa whether she had licensed the work.
He said Vanessa told him the details were being handled.
He said he accepted that answer because he wanted to accept it.
Thomas asked whether he asked again.
Gregory nodded slowly.
He said a second sample arrived with lace he later learned belonged to Margaret O'Connell.
He said a third arrived with embroidery that matched work from Carmen Ortiz.
He said by then denial required effort.
He said effort was exactly what a frightened man gives to a lie he needs.
Vanessa's attorney leaned toward her.
Vanessa did not look at him.
Vanessa stared at her father as if a stranger had borrowed his face.
Gregory continued without waiting for her permission.
He said Sterling Textile Group had been failing for three years.
He said orders had fallen while costs climbed.
He said two factories had survived only because workers accepted shorter weeks without complaint.
He said thousands of jobs rested on buyers who were losing faith in the Sterling name.
He said Vanessa promised him a rescue built from Sterling Rose Fashion House.
He said the launch would bring new contracts.
He said the marriage to Alessandro would bring stability and investment and public confidence.
He said he told himself one successful season could save everyone.
Alessandro asked whether everyone included Patricia Bennett.
Gregory closed his eyes.
He said that was the question he had avoided in every board meeting.
He said he signed off on Derek Lawson's factory orders after Vanessa assured him the original makers would be compensated later.
He said later became a word they used whenever conscience knocked too loudly.
He said Derek copied invoices and building documents under Vanessa's direction.
He said Derek used the Vitale Property Holdings name because it made frightened women less likely to challenge an eviction.
He said Derek used a copied electronic signature because Alessandro's name opened doors that Gregory's failing company no longer could.
Alessandro's face hardened at the mention of his signature.
He said nothing until Gregory finished.
Thomas turned a page in the ledger toward Alessandro.
The page showed payments routed through Rose Sterling LLC.
The page showed factory deposits tied to copied Bennett designs.
The page showed a notation beside the Walnut Street building purchase.
Thomas asked Gregory who wrote that notation.
Gregory said Vanessa did.
Vanessa finally spoke.
She asked her father how he could bring private family records into Alessandro's study.
Gregory turned toward her.
He said the records stopped being private when they became evidence of harm.
Vanessa rose from her chair.
Vanessa said everything she did was to prove she could save his company.
Vanessa said she had grown up watching board members smile at Gregory and then dismiss her in the hallway.
Vanessa said she had been called decorative at her own father's table.
Vanessa said she had sworn she would be worthy of the Sterling name if she had to build that worth herself.
Vanessa said Patricia and Margaret and Carmen were small shops standing in the way of thousands of Sterling workers.
Gregory stood as well.
His voice broke when he answered her.
He said no company was worth this.
He said no name was worth stealing the work of women who had built their names stitch by stitch.
He said he had taught her ambition without teaching her where ambition must stop.
He said that failure was his.
He said the silence that protected it was also his.
He said the orders he signed were his as well.
Vanessa's composure cracked.
Vanessa asked whether he had seen the women at Alessandro's table on Saturday.
Gregory nodded.
He said Thomas had allowed him to read the statements that morning with Margaret's permission.
He said Margaret had written about closing her lace shop in March while her customers assumed she had chosen retirement.
He said Carmen had written about copying her own embroidery at half wages under factory lights.
He said Ruth Parker had written about hiding a recruitment letter because she feared breaking Patricia's heart.
He said those pages had followed him into every room since he read them.
He said he pictured Lucia's name then.
Alessandro looked up sharply.
Gregory met his eyes.
Gregory said he had known Lucia Vitale socially many years ago.
Gregory said he remembered that Alessandro's mother had come to this country as an immigrant seamstress.
Gregory said he had once admired her story at a charity dinner and then forgotten it when remembering became inconvenient.
Alessandro said his mother had sewn other women's wedding dresses while saving for her own family's future.
Alessandro said she would have recognized Patricia's hands instantly.
Alessandro said she would never have called those hands grateful cases.
Gregory lowered his head.
He said he had come to surrender the ledger and the emails before his lawyers could persuade him to protect what remained.
He said Vanessa had hidden copies because she feared the board would remove her if the full rescue plan appeared in writing.
He said those copies now belonged with Thomas and with the proper authorities.
Thomas placed the ledger inside an evidence box.
Thomas listed each email folder aloud for the recording.
Thomas noted the factory orders signed by Gregory.
Thomas noted Gregory's admission that he learned the truth months ago and stayed silent.
Vanessa's attorney asked for a recess.
Vanessa shook her head before Alessandro could answer.
Vanessa asked Gregory whether the board knew he was there.
Gregory said the board had received the same ledger that morning.
Gregory said the investors had received it as well.
Gregory said the Sterling Rose launch funding had already been frozen pending review.
Vanessa went very still.
Gregory said an emergency meeting had been called for that afternoon.
Gregory said Vanessa would be removed as head of Sterling Rose Fashion House.
Gregory said he expected to resign as founder before the week ended.
Gregory said Sterling Textile Group might still fail.
Gregory said it would fail honestly if it failed at all.
Vanessa whispered that he had destroyed her to save his conscience.
Gregory answered with tears in his eyes.
He said she had destroyed herself when she decided other women were acceptable losses.
He said he had nearly joined her by calling that destruction a rescue.
He said a father could love his daughter and still refuse to lie for her.
Vanessa looked toward Alessandro then.
She searched his face for the man who had once believed her explanations at dinner.
She found no such man waiting.
Alessandro stood and took a single sheet from Thomas.
The sheet held a statement Thomas had drafted for public release.
Alessandro read it aloud in a calm and even voice.
The statement said the engagement between Alessandro Vitale and Vanessa Sterling had ended.
The statement said there would be no wedding.
The statement said Vitale Property Holdings had not authorized the building purchases or evictions carried out in its name.
The statement said Alessandro would cooperate fully with lawful investigations.
The statement said the women harmed by Sterling Rose deserved repayment and recognition in their own names.
Alessandro signed the statement at his desk.
Thomas witnessed the signature.
Claire watched Vanessa understand that the announcement would reach the guests from the engagement dinner before nightfall.
Vanessa asked whether Alessandro would really let one seamstress end everything they had planned.
Alessandro corrected her quietly.
Alessandro said Patricia Bennett had not ended the engagement.
Alessandro said Vanessa had ended it when she stole Patricia's work and then tried to buy Claire's silence about Patricia's suffering.
Vanessa gathered her handbag with unsteady hands.
Her attorney guided her toward the door.
Gregory remained seated after she left.
He asked Alessandro whether Margaret and Carmen and Patricia would ever accept an apology from him.
Alessandro said that decision belonged to them alone.
Gregory nodded as if he had expected no comfort.
He said he would testify to what he knew if he was called.
He said he would not hide behind age or illness or the ruins of his company.
Thomas sealed the evidence box in front of him.
Late that afternoon Claire answered a call from Thomas in the hallway.
Thomas said the prosecutor's office had reviewed the ledger and Vanessa's written offer to Claire.
Thomas said a hearing on the red dress evidence and the copied designs had been scheduled.
Thomas said Vanessa's attorney had entered a plea of not guilty on every count presented so far.
Claire felt the fight settle into a longer road ahead.
Then Thomas gave her the second piece of news.
Thomas said Derek Lawson had asked to speak with investigators again.
Thomas said Derek was ready to cooperate against Vanessa in exchange for consideration on his own charges.
Thomas said Derek claimed he could explain exactly who ordered the factory copies and the building purchases and the attempted fire at Bennett Sewing Studio.
Alessandro joined Claire in the hallway as she lowered the phone.
He asked whether Patricia had been told.
Claire said Thomas would call her next.
Alessandro looked toward the dining room where eleven women had sat as honored witnesses.
He said the red dress would have its day in open court.
May you like
Claire believed him.
She also knew Vanessa had just pleaded not guilty.
