Chapter 6 - The Vicious Plot
Officer Terry listened to the entire story without interrupting once. Bellamy did not look surprised, as he knew most of the history, but he was shocked by the details of the physical abuse. I told the police, “Tonight was not just about humiliating me. Flynn wanted me impaired, perhaps photographed or pressured into signing something while I was unconscious.”
Officer Terry turned a page in her notebook and mentioned, “Your videographer also saw Flynn talking to your father before the toast. Your father told him to make sure I could not make a scene the next day.” My blood turned cold. The merger meeting was set for Monday morning, and if I had drunk that champagne, I might have woken up with no memory of the wedding. They could have claimed I was drunk and unfit to vote on the company’s future.
Then the officer’s phone buzzed. She answered it and looked at me with a grim expression. “Hospital security found an envelope in your brother’s jacket,” she said. “It contained a forged document authorizing your father to vote on your behalf for the next ninety days.” I laughed, a sharp and empty sound. “They clearly forged it,” I said.
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“There was also a flash drive,” the officer added. I knew exactly what was on it. It was a collection of clips of me crying at my grandmother’s funeral or arguing with my family, all edited to make me look emotionally unstable. Derek had planned every single part of this. He had not wanted to kill me; he had wanted to erase my credibility so that no one would ever believe me again.
By Sunday afternoon, Katherine broke down. Her attorney arrived, and she finally admitted that she had handed the packet to Flynn, though she claimed she thought it was just to “loosen me up.” My father denied everything, and my mother refused to speak at all.
