Rachel arrived before Flynn left.
She had brought two investigators.
Flynn immediately became defensive.
“What is this?”
Rachel looked at him.
“Legal counsel.”
“For Mabel?”
“Yes.”
Flynn laughed bitterly.
“You’re turning my wife against me.”
I interrupted.
“You did that yourself.”
He stared at me.
Then he walked away.
Rachel waited until the door closed.
“We need to move quickly.”
“Why?”
“Because Selina isn’t merely blackmailing Flynn.”
“What is she doing?”
“She is trying to force him to transfer control of Northstar.”
I remembered the folder.
“Project Northstar.”
Rachel nodded.
“Your father created the holding company to prevent corporate acquisition.”
“Can they take it?”
“Not legally.”
“Then why are they trying?”
“Because they believe they can manipulate you.”
I looked at my smartwatch.
The recording was still there.
“What if we release Flynn’s confession?”
Rachel shook her head.
“Not yet.”
“Why?”
“Because we need everything.”
I understood.
The recording proved what happened to me.
But it didn’t explain the financial scheme.
We needed the entire picture.
That night, I received an anonymous email.
There was one attachment.
A video.
I played it.
Flynn appeared on screen.
He was sitting in an office I recognized.
His office.
Selina sat across from him.
“You promised me,” she said.
“I changed my mind.”
“You don’t get to change your mind.”
“I won’t destroy my wife for you.”
Selina laughed.
“You already did.”
Flynn leaned forward.
“You said Mabel was dangerous.”
“She is.”
“She didn’t know anything.”
“She knows now.”
Flynn’s face tightened.
“What do you want?”
“Northstar.”
“You’ll never get it.”
Selina smiled.
“Then I’ll tell the board what you did.”
The video ended.
I stared at the screen.
Rachel looked at me.
“Who sent this?”
“I don’t know.”
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
A man’s voice spoke.
“Your father knew.”
“Who are you?”
“I worked for him.”
“What happened?”
“He discovered the fraud.”
“What fraud?”
“The money from Northstar wasn’t being invested.”
“Where was it going?”
“Into accounts controlled by Selina.”
My blood ran cold.
“How much?”
“Forty-seven million.”
Rachel’s eyes widened.
The man continued.
“Your husband wasn’t the mastermind.”
“Then who was?”
Silence.
Then he said:
“Someone much closer to you.”
The call ended.
I looked at Rachel.
“Closer to me?”
She immediately began reviewing the documents.
Then she stopped.
Her face changed.
“Mabel.”
“What?”
“Your mother.”
I froze.
“My mother died when I was eleven.”
“I know.”
She pointed to a signature.
“This isn’t your mother’s signature.”
“What are you saying?”
Rachel looked at me.
“Someone has been using her identity for years.”
I felt the room tilt.
Then my phone buzzed again.
A message.
YOU’RE LOOKING IN THE WRONG DIRECTION.
Below it was a photograph.
A photograph of my father.
Standing beside Flynn’s father.
And between them…
Was a woman I had never seen before.
Except I had.
She was in an old family photograph.
She had been standing behind me at my mother’s funeral.
Her name was written on the back.
Evelyn Cole.
Selina’s mother.
I stared at the picture.
And suddenly everything changed.
Selina wasn’t Flynn’s first love.
She had been sent into his life.
For a reason.
PART 6 — THE WOMAN WHO PLANNED EVERYTHING
Evelyn Cole had been watching my family for years.
That was the conclusion Rachel reached after spending an entire night tracing records.
Evelyn had worked for my father.
Not officially.
She had been a consultant.
Then she disappeared shortly after my father’s discovery of the Northstar fraud.
“She knew about the property,” Rachel said.
“And she knew about Flynn?”
“Yes.”
I stared at the documents.
“Then Selina was sent to him.”
“Possibly.”
“And Flynn?”
Rachel shook her head.
“We still don’t know whether he knew the entire plan.”
I remembered his face in the hospital.
His grief over the twins.
His fear when I mentioned Northstar.
Part of me wanted to believe he had been manipulated.
But another part remembered the knife.
The rug.
His words.
I couldn’t excuse that.
That afternoon, Detective Thomas Hale arrived.
Rachel had contacted him privately.
He listened to the recording.
His expression became grim.
“This is significant.”
“Can you arrest him?”
“That’s not my decision yet.”
“But he attacked me.”
“Yes.”
“Then why isn’t he arrested?”
“Because we’re building the case.”
He placed photographs on the table.
“Your husband’s company has been under investigation for financial irregularities.”
I stared.
“Since when?”
“Eight months.”
I looked at Rachel.
Eight months.
Exactly when Selina had returned to Flynn’s life.
Detective Hale continued.
“Forty-seven million dollars moved through shell companies.”
“And Selina?”
“She received payments.”
“How much?”
“Approximately nine million.”
My stomach turned.
Nine million dollars.
For what?
The detective slid another photograph toward me.
Selina meeting a private investigator.
Then another.
Selina entering a bank.
Then another.
Selina meeting Flynn’s father.
I stared.
“Flynn’s father?”
“Yes.”
“What does he know?”
“We’re trying to find out.”
That evening, Flynn returned.
He looked exhausted.
He closed the door behind him.
“Mabel.”
I didn’t answer.
“I need to tell you the truth.”
I looked up.
“Finally.”
He sat down.
“I knew Selina was involved in something.”
“How long?”
“About a year.”
I felt my chest tighten.
“A year?”
“Yes.”
“And you stayed with her?”
“I was trying to protect the company.”
“You were protecting the company?”
He nodded.
“She threatened to expose financial records.”
“You could have gone to the police.”
“I was afraid.”
I stared at him.
“You were afraid of Selina.”
“Yes.”
“And you weren’t afraid of hurting me.”
He looked down.
“I was wrong.”
“That isn’t enough.”
“I know.”
He reached into his coat.
He placed a small flash drive on my bed.
“This contains everything.”
I didn’t touch it.
“What is it?”
“Northstar.”
“Why give it to me?”
“Because Selina has been lying to me.”
I stared at him.
“What did she lie about?”
“The twins.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“She knew you were pregnant.”
The room went silent.
Flynn’s voice cracked.
“She knew before that afternoon.”
I felt something inside me break again.
“She knew?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she had access to your medical records.”
I looked at Rachel.
Her expression was horrified.
“She wanted me to believe you were trying to trap me with a pregnancy,” Flynn said.
I couldn’t speak.
Then Flynn whispered:
“She told me the babies weren’t mine.”
I stared at him.
“You believed her?”
He closed his eyes.
“I was a coward.”
That was the first honest thing he’d said.
I pushed the flash drive away.
“You don’t get forgiveness because you’re finally telling the truth.”
“I know.”
“Leave.”
He stood.
At the door, he turned.
“Mabel.”
I didn’t look at him.
“I loved you.”
I answered quietly.
“Maybe.”
Then he left.
Rachel picked up the flash drive.
“We need to see what’s on this.”
We opened it.
There were hundreds of files.
Emails.
Bank transfers.
Contracts.
Recordings.
And one folder titled:
MABEL — FINAL STAGE.
Inside was a document dated three days before the attack.
The first line read:
Subject: Permanent removal from Northstar control.
I stared at it.
Rachel whispered:
“They planned to take everything.”
And beneath the document was one name.
Evelyn Cole.
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