Chapter 3 - THE CHILD IN THE TRUST
Selina was crying when she entered the hospital room.
Two security officers followed her.
Flynn immediately moved toward her.
“What did they serve you?”
She handed him the envelope.
His fingers tore it open.
I watched his face change as he read.
“Paternity challenge?”
Selina nodded.
“This is insane.”
Flynn looked at me.
“You did this.”
“No.”
“You're trying to destroy me.”
“I don't need to.”
Phoebe quietly interrupted.
“Mr. Vance, the laboratory report predates today's filing.”
Flynn stopped.
“What?”
“The test was conducted three weeks ago.”
He turned toward Selina.
Her eyes filled with tears.
“You told me not to worry.”
“I didn't know.”
“You promised me.”
“I said I would handle it.”
Selina looked at me.
Then she whispered:
“He promised me everything.”
The room went silent.
“What did he promise you?” I asked.
Selina hesitated.
“A house.”
Flynn looked away.
“An apartment?”
“No.”
Her voice cracked.
“The Manhattan townhouse.”
I stared at Flynn.
“That property belongs to the trust.”
“I was going to transfer it.”
Phoebe shook her head.
“You couldn't.”
“Why?”
“Because it was never yours.”
Flynn's face tightened.
The townhouse had been purchased through a subsidiary controlled by the trust.
But there was another clause.
One that I had written myself.
Any attempt by a trustee to transfer trust property for personal benefit would trigger automatic removal.
Flynn had unknowingly built the case against himself.
Selina sank into a chair.
“Then what was I supposed to get?”
Flynn didn't answer.
She looked at me.
“Tell me the truth.”
I almost felt sorry for her.
Almost.
“You were supposed to receive whatever Flynn could steal before I noticed.”
Her face crumpled.
Flynn snapped.
“Enough.”
“No,” Selina said.
She stood.
“I want to know how long you've been lying.”
Flynn's silence was enough.
She turned toward the door.
Before leaving, she looked at me.
“You think I ruined your marriage.”
I said nothing.
“I didn't know about you.”
“I believe you.”
She swallowed.
“But there’s something you don't know either.”
She reached into her purse.
She pulled out a small envelope.
“I found this in Flynn's office.”
She handed it to Phoebe.
Phoebe opened it.
Inside was a photocopy of a bank transfer.
$4.8 million.
The recipient wasn't Selina.
It wasn't Flynn.
It wasn't even one of his companies.
It was an account in the name of my mother.
My dead mother.
My blood went cold.
“That’s impossible.”
Phoebe stared at the account number.
Then she looked at me.
“Mabel…”
I knew that tone.
“What?”
“This account is active.”
My heart stopped.
“My mother has been dead for eleven years.”
Phoebe slowly turned the document around.
The latest transaction was dated three days ago.
And the person who authorized it had used my mother's maiden name.
A name only four people had ever known.
My mother.
My father.
Flynn's father.
And me.
I looked at Flynn.
He was staring at the document.
But he wasn't surprised.
That was when I understood.
He already knew.
And suddenly the affair wasn't the biggest betrayal anymore.
The money wasn't either.
Someone had been using my dead mother's identity for more than a decade.
May you like
And the trail led directly into the Vance family.
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