Chapter 12 - SELENE FINALLY TOLD ME WHY SHE HATED ME
Selene chose a hotel that had closed for renovation.
The lobby lights were on, but the front doors were covered in construction paper.
A side entrance opened into a temporary reception area no guest was using.
Detective Brooks said it was an obvious trap.
Samuel said the same thing with more expensive vocabulary.
My father simply said no.
I listened to all three.
Then I went.
Again, I was not truly alone.
Detective Brooks had officers outside.
My father's security team remained two blocks away because she refused to let them interfere.
Samuel fitted me with a recording device.
But when I entered the unfinished lobby, I walked by myself.
Selene stood beside a plastic-covered piano.
She looked nothing like the woman who had sat drinking champagne while I lay on the floor.
No designer dress.
No diamonds.
No perfect hair.
She wore jeans, a dark sweater, and shoes made for running.
A gray duffel bag sat at her feet.
"You came."
"You have the ledger?"
"You always were direct when Julian was not around."
"You do not know me."
She smiled sadly.
"I know more than you think."
"That sentence has become very popular."
Selene picked up the duffel bag but did not open it.
"Did Julian tell you I took it?"
"Yes."
"Did he tell you why?"
"He said you realized Nathan was going to leave you with nothing."
She laughed.
"Of course he did."
"Was he wrong?"
"Not completely."
"Then save me the performance."
Her face hardened.
"You think I enjoyed being his mistress?"
I stared at her.
"I watched you laugh while he hurt me."
She looked away.
"I know."
"You counted for him."
"I know."
"You demanded two more."
Her jaw trembled.
"I know."
"Then do not ask me to feel sorry for you."
"I am not."
She looked back at me.
"I am asking you to understand why I thought destroying you would save me."
"It will not."
"I know that now."
I waited.
Selene sat on the edge of a covered chair.
"I met Julian four years ago."
"While he was married to me."
"Yes."
"Good start."
She ignored the sarcasm.
"I was an analyst at Westbridge."
That changed everything.
"Westbridge?"
"Not the parent company."
"One of the affiliates?"
"A risk office in Geneva."
"Nathan's company."
"I did not know it was Nathan's."
"When did you learn?"
"Two years ago."
"And Julian?"
"Julian already knew Westbridge was connected to someone close to Victor."
"He did not know Nathan owned it."
"Not until recently."
I folded my arms carefully.
"Why did you start an affair with him?"
Selene gave me a bitter smile.
"You really want the humiliating version?"
"I want the true one."
"Nathan told me Julian could protect me."
"From what?"
She looked down at her hands.
"I found irregularities in the Orion structures."
"The ownership trail."
"Part of it."
"You reported them?"
"To my supervisor."
"What happened?"
"He was fired."
She swallowed.
"Then I got a call from Nathan."
"Directly?"
"He told me I was intelligent and ambitious."
"That sounds like him."
"He offered me a role consulting for Vale Meridian."
"And Julian."
"Julian made me feel protected."
"Until he did not."
"Until I realized protection was the product he sold everyone before he owned them."
That sounded painfully familiar.
Selene stood again.
"He told me you were cold."
I almost laughed.
"Of course he did."
"He said you embarrassed him."
"How?"
"By refusing to have children."
The cruelty of the lie took my breath away.
Julian and I had spent two years trying.
I had endured appointments, tests, and one pregnancy loss I had barely survived emotionally.
Julian had cried beside me in the hospital.
At least I had thought he was crying.
"He told you I refused?"
Selene saw my face and understood.
"That was a lie too."
"Yes."
"I am sorry."
"Do not."
She nodded.
"He said your father controlled you."
"Sometimes he tried."
"He said you were spoiled and cruel and that you used money to humiliate him."
"He believed I had no money."
"I know that now."
Selene's eyes filled with tears.
"Every time I questioned him, he made you the answer."
I said nothing.
"Why did he lie?"
"Because if two women hate each other, neither asks what the man between them is doing."
Selene looked at me for a long moment.
Then she nodded.
"Yes."
"That still does not explain the night he hurt me."
Her face collapsed slightly.
"He told me you had found out about us."
"I had."
"He said you threatened to ruin my career."
"I had never spoken to you before that night."
"I know."
"He said I attacked you?"
"He said you planned to."
"So you drugged my tea."
Selene's eyes dropped.
"Yes."
The word sat between us.
"Why?"
"I thought you would make a scene."
"And the lashes?"
She began crying.
I felt nothing comforting toward her.
"Answer me."
"I wanted him to choose me."
The honesty was uglier than an excuse.
"So you counted."
"Yes."
"You asked for two more."
"Yes."
"You watched."
"Yes."
I took one step closer.
"Then whatever Julian told you, you made a choice."
She nodded through tears.
"I know."
"And you will answer for it."
"I know."
She wiped her face.
"That is why I am giving you this."
She opened the duffel bag.
Inside was the leather ledger.
She placed it on the covered piano.
"Nathan kept physical records because he did not trust Julian."
"How did Julian get it?"
"Nathan gave him a copy of selected pages as leverage over Westbridge counterparties."
"Selected pages?"
"The ledger is not complete."
My pulse quickened.
"What is missing?"
"The beneficiary pages."
"You said this proves Nathan owns Westbridge."
"It proves he controls the entities."
"But not that he benefits."
"Correct."
"Then why say it was enough?"
Selene looked toward the dark stairwell.
"Because there is another document."
"Where?"
"In a vault."
"Whose vault?"
"Your mother's."
I stared at her.
"My mother has been dead for nine years."
"I know."
"What vault?"
"Zurich."
"How would you know about my mother's vault?"
"Because Nathan has spent three years trying to open it."
My skin went cold.
"Why?"
Selene reached into the duffel bag again.
She pulled out a photocopy of a handwritten note.
The handwriting belonged to my mother.
I knew it instantly.
Victor must never let Nathan control Westbridge.
If I am gone, Elena has the final authority.
Below that was a vault reference number.
I read the note twice.
"Where did you get this?"
"Julian's safe."
"Did Julian know what it meant?"
"Not at first."
"And now?"
"Now he knows the vault may contain the document Nathan needs to prove legal ownership of Westbridge."
I looked at the ledger.
"So Nathan wants the vault too."
"Yes."
"And he needs me to open it."
Selene shook her head.
"He needed you."
My stomach tightened.
"What does that mean?"
"Someone already opened it this morning."
"Who?"
Selene looked at me.
"A woman using your passport."
I thought of the counterfeit identity.
"You?"
"No."
"Then who?"
"I do not know."
"Did they get the document?"
Selene swallowed.
"The vault is empty."
Outside, a siren approached.
Selene flinched.
"You brought police."
"You expected me not to?"
She grabbed the duffel bag.
"You promised nothing."
"I promised nothing."
She started toward the rear exit.
I did not stop her.
Then she turned back.
"Elena."
"What?"
"The woman who opened the vault did not just have your passport."
"What else?"
"The bank's biometric log says she matched your fingerprint."
I stared at her.
"That is impossible."
Selene's face went pale.
May you like
"I thought so too."
Then the lights went out.
