Chapter 7 - THE WOMAN THEY THOUGHT WAS EASY TO KILL
My grandmother Rose had survived two wars, ovarian cancer, three recessions, the death of her husband, and raising my father.
Aidan Hayes was about to learn that killing her wouldn’t be simple either.
Colorado State Patrol reached her driver by telephone thirty-two minutes after Cecilia’s call.
He was descending a mountain road.
When dispatch ordered him not to touch the brakes, he initially thought it was a joke.
Then he tested the pedal.
Nothing.
The line went silent.
My mother gripped my hand so hard it hurt.
We listened through Agent Carter’s speakerphone while officers coordinated.
The driver shifted down.
Used engine braking.
Steered toward an emergency runaway lane several miles ahead.
Rose, apparently, asked whether they were going to be late for dinner.
Even when death was chasing her down a mountain, Grandma hated poor scheduling.
The vehicle entered the gravel escape ramp at nearly seventy miles per hour.
Airbags deployed.
Front suspension collapsed.
But it stopped.
Grandma fractured one wrist.
Her driver broke two ribs.
Both survived.
When Dad told her someone had sabotaged the brakes, Rose reportedly said:
“Then find the bastard before I do.”
That was my grandmother.
By evening, the case exploded.
Investigators found evidence that someone had tampered with the SUV while it was parked at a private airfield.
Security footage showed a man in a maintenance uniform.
The uniform was fake.
The employee identification was fake.
But the face was clear.
His name was Dominic Vale.
Former military mechanic.
Private security contractor.
And according to financial records, he had received two hundred thousand dollars from an account linked to Aidan Hayes.
The conspiracy began collapsing.
Except Cecilia remained missing.
Flynn refused to cooperate.
Aidan suddenly wanted a deal.
Fiona wanted immunity.
Cole and Brennan blamed Aidan.
Everybody loved family until prosecutors entered the room.
Then loyalty became extremely flexible.
Three days after the honeymoon, I returned to New York.
Not home.
Home no longer felt safe.
I stayed inside a secure penthouse owned by Sterling Holdings.
Federal investigators occupied two rooms.
Private security guarded the elevators.
My parents moved into the same building.
Grandma Rose insisted on flying back from Colorado with her wrist in a bright purple cast.
When she saw me, she opened her arms.
“There’s my difficult-to-murder granddaughter.”
I burst into tears.
She held me.
Then whispered, “You picked a terrible husband.”
I laughed while crying.
“Yes.”
“We’ll improve your judgment later.”
Only Rose could make attempted family annihilation sound like a dating mistake.
The following morning, my attorney arrived with devastating news.
The power of attorney had been used.
Flynn and Aidan had attempted transfers totaling $117 million.
Most were frozen.
But $22.4 million had disappeared through shell companies.
Twenty-two million.
Gone.
“Can we recover it?”
“Probably some.”
“Where did it go?”
“Switzerland, Cyprus, Singapore, then crypto exchanges.”
Cecilia.
She knew the accounts.
She wanted the access keys.
The woman wasn’t merely Flynn’s mistress.
She was part of the financial architecture.
Maybe the architect.
I asked Agent Carter to show me everything investigators knew about her.
Cecilia Grant had grown up in Ohio.
Scholarship student.
Finance degree.
Worked at three investment firms.
Joined Sterling Private Capital five years earlier.
No criminal record.
No obvious connection to Aidan.
Until Carter showed me her birth certificate.
Mother: Margaret Grant.
My stomach tightened.
“Margaret?”
“Different Margaret.”
“Are you sure?”
“No.”
Carter slid another record over.
Margaret Grant had changed her name.
Her original name?
Margaret Hayes.
Flynn’s biological mother.
I stared at the paper.
“Cecilia is Flynn’s sister.”
“Half-sister.”
My skin went cold.
Flynn had called her his mistress.
Fiona had referred to “the mistress.”
Had Flynn lied?
Or had their relationship become something else?
Carter clarified quickly.
“We have no evidence of a romantic relationship. They may have deliberately used the word mistress to mislead anyone who overheard them.”
My mind returned to the yacht.
Flynn hadn’t actually mentioned Cecilia during the plot I overheard.
Aidan later had.
The truth clicked into place.
Cecilia wasn’t the woman waiting to live happily ever after with Flynn.
She was family.
Another Hayes.
Another person raised on the Sterling grievance.
“What does she want?”
Carter looked at me.
“Maybe revenge.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“If this were only revenge, she wouldn’t care about access keys.”
“Then what?”
“Control.”
That was what every person in this nightmare wanted.
Control of money.
Control of family.
Control of the story.
I stood.
“I want to see Flynn.”
Carter frowned.
“Why?”
“Because Cecilia lied to him.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know him.”
“You thought you knew him before.”
Fair.
But this time I knew what Flynn feared.
Being insignificant.
Being manipulated.
Especially by family.
Carter arranged a monitored meeting.
Two days later, I sat behind reinforced glass across from my husband.
No tailored suit.
No designer watch.
No charming smile.
Orange detention uniform.
He picked up the telephone.
“So.”
I raised mine.
“So.”
“You look good.”
“You look institutional.”
His jaw tightened.
Good.
“I know who Cecilia is.”
Nothing.
But his eyes changed.
“Congratulations.”
“Your sister stole the money.”
“She moved it.”
“Without you.”
“She’s protecting it.”
“For herself.”
Flynn smiled.
“You don’t know Cecilia.”
“Neither do you.”
His fingers tightened around the phone.
I leaned closer.
“She called me.”
Silence.
“She warned me about Grandma.”
That surprised him.
“She what?”
“She gave us forty minutes.”
Flynn frowned.
“Why?”
“Exactly.”
He stared at me.
I continued.
“She saved Rose.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“She wouldn’t.”
“Why?”
“Because Rose was the point.”
There.
He had said too much.
“What was the point?”
He stopped.
I smiled.
“You really are your father’s son.”
“Don’t.”
“All those years desperate to prove you’re smarter than Aidan.”
“Shut up.”
“Meanwhile Cecilia used both of you.”
“She did not.”
“She has twenty-two million dollars.”
“We have twenty-two million.”
“You’re in jail.”
His face darkened.
“She has the access keys.”
“She doesn’t have all of them.”
“Where are the others?”
He smiled.
I had pushed too quickly.
I changed direction.
“Cecilia told Aidan she wanted half.”
“She wants what she earned.”
“Which is?”
“More than you could understand.”
“Try me.”
Flynn leaned toward the glass.
“Cecilia designed the entire operation.”
I stopped breathing.
“The medications?”
“Her.”
“The forged documents?”
“Her.”
“The accounts?”
“Her.”
“The marriage?”
He hesitated.
My heart sank.
“Her.”
Cecilia had selected me.
Studied me.
Built Flynn into the perfect man.
“Why warn us about Grandma?”
Flynn looked genuinely disturbed now.
“I don’t know.”
“What happened between you?”
“Nothing.”
“Wrong.”
“I said nothing.”
“She abandoned you.”
“No.”
“She took the money and disappeared.”
His voice rose.
“She’s finishing the plan!”
“What plan?”
He realized too late.
I stayed quiet.
Flynn stared at me.
Then slowly sat back.
“Nice try.”
I almost smiled.
“Did Cecilia ever tell you what happened to your mother?”
His entire expression changed.
“What do you mean?”
“Her car accident.”
“That has nothing to do with this.”
“Are you sure?”
He stood.
The guard moved.
Flynn pressed closer to the glass.
“What do you know?”
“Nothing yet.”
“You’re lying.”
“For once, I’m not.”
His breathing quickened.
I whispered, “Maybe ask Aidan.”
Flynn’s face drained.
Carter ended the meeting.
As I walked away, Flynn slammed his hand against the glass.
“EVELYN!”
I didn’t turn.
That night Agent Carter called me.
“You cracked something.”
“What?”
“Flynn requested an interview.”
I sat upright.
“What did he say?”
“He claims Aidan killed Margaret Hayes.”
Flynn’s mother.
Cecilia’s mother.
I closed my eyes.
The revenge wasn’t only against my family.
Cecilia had been playing everyone.
Carter continued.
“And Flynn gave us the location of his remaining access key.”
“Where?”
“Inside your wedding ring.”
I stared at my hand.
The ring was gone, sealed in evidence.
Carter’s voice hardened.
“Evelyn, that ring contains access to fourteen encrypted accounts.”
“How much?”
“We don’t know.”
May you like
Then she added:
“But Flynn believes Cecilia is coming for it.”
