Chapter 9 - What the Gray Drive Held
The flash drive did not enter my room.
Detective Alvarez took it directly to the digital forensics lab.
I spent the next six hours imagining what might be on it.
Photographs.
Accounts.
Messages.
Proof that Flynn had lied about things far worse than Selina.
Part of me did not want to know.
That part of me had become very small.
At 1:10 the next morning, Alvarez called Camille first.
Camille came to the hospital before sunrise.
She looked grim.
"There are files on it."
"About Flynn?"
"Yes."
"Criminal?"
"Some may be."
My stomach tightened.
"Tell me."
Camille sat beside the bed.
"The drive contains portions of the Gray Book."
"Daniel stole them?"
"Probably."
"What is in Flynn's section?"
"Emails from the Halberd acquisition."
"Showing what?"
"That Flynn learned a shareholder had been threatened and approved closing the deal anyway."
I closed my eyes.
That was bad.
Maybe criminal.
Certainly devastating if public.
"Anything else?"
"Payments to political consultants that may not have been properly disclosed."
"Anything personal?"
Camille hesitated.
"Yes."
I opened my eyes.
"Selina?"
"Mostly."
The drive contained hotel records going back four years.
Photographs.
Private messages.
Copies of transfers.
Evidence that Flynn's relationship with Selina had crossed the line long before I admitted it to myself.
Not once.
Not one regrettable night.
Repeatedly.
During our marriage.
During our anniversaries.
During weeks when Flynn told me he was traveling for work.
I stared at the ceiling while Camille spoke.
I had expected this truth.
Expectation did not make it hurt less.
"How long?"
"At least two years."
I swallowed.
"Did he love her?"
Camille's expression softened for the first time.
"That is not something a flash drive can prove."
"The messages can."
"Mabel."
"Read one."
"No."
"Read one."
She sighed.
"There is a message from Flynn to Selina eight months ago."
"What does it say?"
Camille looked at me.
"I cannot keep giving you pieces of myself and then go home pretending nothing happened."
I felt something inside me crack quietly.
"Her reply?"
"Leave her."
"And his?"
Camille paused.
"Not yet."
I turned my face toward the window.
Not yet.
Two words that described my entire marriage.
He had wanted Selina.
He had wanted me to remain his wife.
He had wanted the company stable.
He had wanted his family image intact.
He had wanted everything.
And because he could not choose, other people had paid the price.
"There is more," Camille said.
I did not look at her.
"Of course there is."
"The drive includes a spreadsheet tracking payments from Selina to Daniel Mercer."
"Good."
"And one payment from Flynn."
I turned back.
"To Daniel?"
"Yes."
"How much?"
"Three hundred thousand dollars."
"When?"
"Four days after the stabbing."
My chest tightened.
"Why?"
"The memo says crisis retention."
"He paid Daniel after I was attacked."
"Yes."
"The man helping Selina cover it up."
"Flynn may not have known that."
I laughed bitterly.
"He never knows anything until after it destroys someone."
Camille did not disagree.
At 8:00 a.m., Flynn's lawyer requested another meeting.
This time I refused.
At 8:15, Flynn sent a handwritten letter through Camille.
I did not open it.
At 9:30, federal investigators arrived at Vance Global headquarters.
The Gray Book had crossed the case into possible corporate crimes.
By noon, the board placed Flynn on temporary administrative leave.
The news hit financial channels within minutes.
Vance Global stock fell another thirteen percent.
A photograph of Flynn leaving the tower appeared everywhere.
He was surrounded by reporters.
For once, no security team could make the questions disappear.
"Did you conceal threats during the Halberd acquisition?"
"Were you having an affair with Selina Cole?"
"Did your wife know?"
"Are you being removed as CEO?"
Flynn did not answer.
I watched the footage silently.
Then a reporter shouted one final question.
"Did you know your wife was pregnant when you stabbed her?"
Flynn stopped walking.
His security team tried to move him forward.
He turned toward the cameras.
"No."
His voice broke.
"I did not."
He looked directly into the lens.
"But I hurt her whether she was pregnant or not."
The reporters went quiet.
Flynn continued.
"There is no version of what I did that becomes acceptable because I did not know."
Then he walked away.
Nathan looked at me.
"That is the first intelligent sentence I have heard from him."
I did not respond.
It was also too late.
At 2:20 p.m., Megan asked to see me.
Dr. Reed objected.
I insisted.
We met in a small consultation room with Alvarez present.
Megan looked terrified.
"Mrs. Vance, I am sorry."
I did not tell her it was okay.
It was not.
"Why did you help her?"
Megan twisted her fingers together.
"At first, I did not know what she was doing."
"You bought bandages."
"She told me she was planning a photo shoot and needed supplies."
"You watched me."
Her eyes filled.
"I hired the investigator."
My jaw tightened.
"Why?"
"Selina said she thought you were leaking information about Flynn."
"And you believed her?"
"I needed the job."
The answer made me angrier than a lie would have.
"So you followed a pregnant woman because you needed a paycheck."
Megan looked down.
"Yes."
I let the silence punish her.
Then I asked the question that mattered.
"When did you realize she wanted me dead?"
Megan began crying.
"The morning it happened."
"What happened that morning?"
"She was in her office with Daniel."
"Mercer?"
"Yes."
"What did they say?"
Megan swallowed.
"Daniel said Flynn was unstable whenever he thought someone had hurt Selina."
My stomach turned.
"How would he know that?"
"He had seen them fight before."
"Then?"
"Selina said she only needed Flynn to lose control for thirty seconds."
I felt cold.
"What did Daniel say?"
Megan looked at Alvarez, then back at me.
"He said, make sure the knife is where he can see it."
My hand tightened around the chair arm.
There it was.
Not speculation.
Not inference.
A witness.
"Did you hear them discuss my pregnancy?"
Megan nodded.
"Selina said the timing was perfect."
"Why?"
"Because if the transfer had started and you died before changing your estate plan back, she thought the foundation would receive the shares."
"She knew the amendment was invalid."
"Daniel told her they could fix the witness issue after."
Forgery after death.
The plan was even uglier than I had understood.
"Why did you not call police?"
Megan wiped her face.
"I was scared."
"You already said that."
"Daniel had copies of messages that made it look like I helped plan everything."
"You did help."
"Not the murder part."
"But you helped build the road to it."
She flinched.
I heard Flynn in that sentence.
Maybe blame was not clean.
Maybe people could be both manipulated and responsible.
That did not erase what they chose.
"What changed after I survived?"
Megan looked down.
"Selina panicked."
"And Daniel?"
"He got angry."
"At whom?"
"At Flynn."
"Why?"
"Because Flynn sent Selina money and told her to leave Chicago instead of helping clean up the evidence."
I frowned.
"Flynn did not know there was evidence to clean up."
"Daniel thought he would protect her anyway."
"Because he always had."
Megan nodded.
"But when Flynn started asking questions, Daniel realized Selina had lost control of him."
"So they planned the fake confession."
"Yes."
"And the jet."
"Yes."
"And the Gray Book?"
Megan's face changed.
"That was Daniel's idea."
"Why?"
"He said if everything collapsed, they needed insurance."
"Against Flynn."
"Against everyone."
I stared at her.
"Where is Daniel now?"
"I do not know."
"Where would he go?"
Megan hesitated.
"There is one place."
Alvarez leaned forward.
"Where?"
"An old records warehouse near Cicero."
"Address?"
Megan gave it.
Alvarez stood immediately.
Then Megan grabbed her sleeve.
"Wait."
The detective looked down.
"What?"
"If Daniel is there, do not go through the main entrance."
"Why?"
Megan's face went pale.
May you like
"Because Selina said he wired the building to burn if police came."
