Chapter 10 - The Warehouse Fire
Police reached the Cicero warehouse at 4:18 p.m.
They did not use the main entrance.
Bomb technicians went first.
For nearly an hour, nothing happened.
Then smoke appeared from a second-floor window.
I watched the news helicopter footage from my hospital room as orange light flashed behind dirty glass.
"He set it anyway," Nathan said.
Detective Alvarez had left with the tactical team.
Camille stood beside my bed with her phone pressed to her ear.
"No confirmed occupants yet."
"What was stored there?"
"Old Vance records."
"How old?"
"Some predating Flynn's father."
The fire spread fast.
Too fast.
Within minutes, flames pushed through the roof.
Firefighters attacked from two sides while police searched neighboring lots.
At 5:02, an officer found a man climbing through a rear loading dock window.
He ran.
He made it less than a block.
Daniel Mercer was arrested behind an auto shop.
He had burns on one hand and a laptop bag strapped across his chest.
Selina was not with him.
When police searched the bag, they found the missing encryption key from Flynn's office.
They also found two external drives and ninety thousand dollars in cash.
"So he set the fire," I said when Alvarez called.
"We believe he started it remotely after seeing police arrive."
"What was he trying to destroy?"
"Records."
"Which records?"
"We do not know yet."
I almost laughed.
Alvarez heard it.
"Yes, I know."
"At least you are consistent."
"There is one thing we do know."
"What?"
"He was not alone in the warehouse earlier today."
My stomach tightened.
"Selina."
"A traffic camera captured her car near the building at 1:52 p.m."
"Where did she go after?"
"North."
"Toward Lake Geneva?"
"Possibly."
Police searched the Lake Geneva property again.
Still empty.
Then they found a boat missing from the dock.
The lake was large enough to hide a person for hours and small enough to make escape difficult.
By sunset, patrol boats were searching the shoreline.
Nothing.
The next morning, prosecutors formally charged Daniel Mercer with conspiracy, obstruction, computer crimes, financial fraud, and attempted destruction of evidence.
His lawyer entered a not-guilty plea.
Daniel requested protective custody.
That request caught Alvarez's attention.
"He is afraid of Selina," she told me.
"Or pretending to be."
"Maybe both."
"Will he cooperate?"
"His lawyer has already asked about a deal."
I felt anger rise.
"He helped plan my death and now he wants a deal."
"Deals are how conspiracies get proved."
"I hate that."
"Most victims do."
The word victim still bothered me.
Not because it was inaccurate.
Because I did not want it to become my permanent name.
At noon, Dr. Reed told me I could be discharged in two days if my bloodwork remained stable.
"Where am I supposed to go?"
Nathan answered before he could.
"With me."
"To Boston?"
"For as long as you need."
Camille shook her head.
"Not yet."
Nathan frowned.
"Why not?"
"Because leaving Illinois while the divorce hearing is pending complicates logistics, and police may need her nearby."
"She cannot go back to that house."
"She will not."
Camille had already leased a secure apartment under her firm's name.
The building had private parking and no public tenant directory.
For the first time since the attack, I began to imagine a room without Flynn's belongings in it.
A kitchen where Selina had never stood.
A bed that did not hold years of lies.
The idea felt more healing than any apology.
Then Flynn's criminal case changed.
At 2:40 p.m., prosecutors filed charges against him for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and attempted second-degree murder under an alternative theory.
Pike immediately announced Flynn would surrender voluntarily.
I stared at the television.
Even though I knew charges were coming, seeing his name beneath the word accused felt unreal.
Flynn Vance had spent his adult life walking through private entrances.
Now cameras filmed him entering a courthouse beside his lawyer.
His bail hearing lasted forty-three minutes.
Prosecutors described the two stab wounds.
They described his threat before the attack.
They described how he left me on the floor.
Pike argued there was no premeditation and emphasized Selina's deliberate manipulation.
The judge set a high bond, ordered Flynn to surrender all weapons, barred contact with me, and prohibited communication with Selina or Daniel.
He was released that evening.
The no-contact order should have ended his attempts to reach me.
Instead, the next morning, I received a package through Camille.
It was legally permitted because it came from his attorney and contained property, not a message.
Inside was my wedding ring.
I had not realized the hospital removed it during surgery.
Flynn had apparently been given my personal effects while I was unconscious.
The ring lay in a velvet box.
No note.
No apology.
Nothing.
I stared at it for a long time.
Then I closed the box.
"What do you want to do with it?" Camille asked.
"Put it in your safe."
"You do not want it?"
"I do not want to make decisions about symbols while I am still making decisions about survival."
Camille nodded.
"Good."
That afternoon, Daniel Mercer's lawyer contacted prosecutors.
He wanted immunity from certain financial charges in exchange for testimony against Selina.
Alvarez came to explain what he was offering.
"He says Selina designed the plan to kill you."
"We already know that."
"He says he can prove it."
"How?"
"Recordings."
My skin prickled.
"Of Selina?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
"Encrypted on one of the drives recovered from his bag."
"Why did he record her?"
"Insurance."
I thought of the Gray Book.
Of Flynn's father collecting vulnerabilities.
Of Selina collecting evidence.
Of Daniel recording Selina.
Everyone around Vance Global seemed to believe trust was for fools and blackmail was retirement planning.
"What is on the recordings?"
"We are decrypting them."
"Can Daniel unlock them?"
"He gave us a partial key."
"Partial?"
"He wants a signed agreement first."
I leaned back.
"Of course he does."
Alvarez studied me.
"You should prepare yourself."
"For what?"
"If prosecutors make a deal, he may receive far less punishment than you believe he deserves."
"And if they do not?"
"We may lose direct evidence of Selina's intent."
I looked at the scar hidden beneath my gown.
"Make the deal."
Alvarez raised an eyebrow.
"That is not your decision."
"I know."
"Then why say it?"
"Because I would rather watch one guilty man get ten years instead of twenty if it helps prove another guilty person tried to erase me."
She nodded once.
"That is a practical answer."
"I used to work in private equity."
"That explains a lot."
I almost smiled.
By evening, prosecutors had a cooperation framework.
Daniel provided the full encryption key.
The first recovered audio file was dated eight days before the attack.
Alvarez did not let me hear it immediately.
She brought a transcript.
I read the words slowly.
Daniel: If Flynn does not react the way you expect, we abort.
Selina: No.
Daniel: You cannot control him that precisely.
Selina: I do not need to control him.
Daniel: Then what are you saying?
Selina: I only need him to create the scene.
Daniel: And if Mabel is still breathing?
Selina: Then I finish it.
My hands stopped moving.
I could hear Selina's voice in my head even without the recording.
Then I read the next line.
Daniel: You said she is pregnant.
Selina: That is why it has to be now.
I stared at the page.
There was no ambiguity left.
No jealous misunderstanding.
No impulsive scheme.
Selina had planned to kill me and my unborn children.
The next part was worse.
Daniel: Flynn will be destroyed.
Selina: He will survive.
Daniel: He may go to prison.
Selina: Only if Mabel survives long enough to testify.
I put the transcript down.
For several seconds, I could not breathe properly.
Dr. Reed noticed from across the room.
"Enough."
I shook my head.
"There is more."
"Tomorrow."
"No."
"Mabel."
"I need to know."
Alvarez looked at Dr. Reed.
He clearly wanted to throw both of us out.
Then Alvarez turned one more page.
"There is one final exchange you should see."
I read it.
Daniel: What happens if Flynn chooses her after this?
Selina: He will not.
Daniel: You sound sure.
Selina: Flynn has spent his whole life choosing me whenever it costs him nothing.
Daniel: And this time?
Selina: This time I am going to make the choice cost him everything.
I stared at that sentence for a long time.
Selina had understood Flynn better than I had.
She knew his weakness.
She knew his reflex to protect her.
She knew how quickly love could become violence when mixed with entitlement and rage.
She had built the trap.
But Flynn had still stepped into it willingly.
That distinction mattered.
It would matter in court.
It would matter in my divorce.
It would matter every time he asked for forgiveness.
At 11:40 p.m., police found the missing boat drifting near the northern shore of Lake Geneva.
There was blood on the deck.
There was no body.
There was no Selina.
But tucked beneath the driver's seat was Flynn's second corporate phone.
May you like
A phone he had sworn under oath he had lost six months earlier.
