CHAP 11 — THE HUSBAND BEHIND THE CURTAIN
Sebastian had inherited Stephen's access credentials.
For years he had quietly maintained pieces of Daniel's network.
Not because he trusted Daniel.
Because he intended to control him.
Payments to Lighthouse were not Sebastian paying Daniel.
They were Daniel paying Sebastian through intermediaries.
Sebastian had blackmailed Olivia's uncle.
That explained everything.
Daniel's leaked schedules.
The trust information.
The medical campaign.
Sebastian was not merely surviving an old conspiracy.
He had taken ownership of it.
Olivia stared at the transaction history.
“He became the thing he hated.”
Evelyn nodded.
“People do.”
They prepared subpoenas.
Before they could file, Daniel disappeared.
His private plane departed for the Cayman Islands.
Authorities stopped it in Florida after Evelyn alerted investigators.
Daniel called Jonathan from the airport.
He wanted immunity.
Jonathan refused to negotiate privately.
Olivia did.
Daniel told her the truth in a recorded interview.
Sebastian had approached him five years earlier.
He knew about the old network.
He threatened exposure.
Then offered partnership.
Daniel gave Sebastian information about the trust.
Sebastian gradually took control.
The Northstar merger was supposed to be their exit.
Once completed, hidden liabilities could be absorbed inside a larger company.
Daniel would retire.
Sebastian would become untouchable.
“And my marriage?” Olivia asked.
Daniel looked away.
“He needed proximity.”
“When did he decide to marry me?”
“I don't know.”
“Did he ever love me?”
Daniel looked at her.
For once, he seemed almost human.
“I think that's why he became so dangerous.”
Olivia frowned.
“He started with a plan.”
Daniel continued.
“Then you became real.”
Olivia hated the answer.
Because some part of her believed it.
A wholly fake marriage would have been easier to bury.
But there had been mornings.
Inside jokes.
The time Sebastian sat on a hospital floor with her after the miscarriage.
His hand shaking while he cried.
Had that been fake?
Maybe not.
And that did not make what followed less monstrous.
It made it more tragic.
May you like
People did not need to feel nothing to destroy you.
Sometimes they simply valued themselves more.
