VNC Screen Sharing: can only control one of three monitors

VNC target: Mac Mini 2018 Intel Core i7, Ventura 13.6.3, 3 displays (1 HDMI and 2 type-C, portrait landscape portrait)

VNC client: MacBook Pro 15-inch 2017 Intel Core i7, Ventura 13.6.3, 2 displays (built-in and HDMI)

I can connect, login, and see all 3 displays in their correct orientation and position. But I can only control things on the left monitor (dock, windows, menu bar, apps). If I click on another monitor, it brings the focus back to the left one. I can tell as the menu bar changes from being gray/faded to white text as it does when sitting in front of the computer and being active in that display. If an app opens on another window, say the center, I can Cmd+tab to bring the focus to that window, but as soon as I click it thinks I am clicking in the left window and I lose the app focus.

This appears to be the exact same issue mention in this post here.

I have checked out the link the community specialist posted, and did not see anything useful.