1976 (#11) - The mysterious Vanessa, the veil and her disfigured face by the fire

The meeting with Lance is everything Lorie could hope for to put the painful interlude with Mark behind her. After being courted for a long time by Lance, who in the meantime is busy organizing luxurious intimate dinners for the two of them in cities as Chicago, New York or London, Lorie is soon captivated by the man's charm and falls in love with him. However, the woman remains confused by Lance's mysterious behavior every time she visits his house, and she can't understand why there was a room where Lorie is forbidden to enter. Also intrigued by the fact that she sees scarves and objects indicating the letter V around, Lorie begins to suspect that the man may be hiding a second woman and, somewhat frightened by this second dark side of the man, talks to Leslie and Brad about it. They convince her to get to the bottom of it. So when Lorie asks for a strong explanation, Lance is eventually forced to admit the whole truth. The man, in fact, does not live alone in the house, but with his mother Vanessa Prentiss, widow of her husband Albert Prentiss for years and owner of the other half of Prentiss Industries. Five years earlier, Vanessa had saved her two children, Lance and her brother Lucas, from a raging fire that broke out in their home; everyone was saved, but Vanessa was disfigured in the face because of a terrible scar; and from that day on, she decided she never wanted to meet anyone again. Moved by the story, Lorie tries to get closer to the woman, who always shows with a veil covering the lower part of his face, the one disfigured and scarred. The story certainly brings Lorie's heart closer to Lance.