Chapter 10 - sabrina’s last bargain
Sabrina requested to speak with Evan before her bail hearing.
He refused twice.
On the third request, she offered information about Victor.
Evan met her in a courthouse interview room with Naomi present.
Sabrina wore a gray detention uniform. Without the wedding gown, diamonds and carefully arranged hair, she looked younger and more exhausted.
“You have ten minutes,” Evan said.
She looked at Naomi.
“Alone.”
“No.”
“Then I have nothing to say.”
Evan stood.
Sabrina’s control broke.
“Victor is alive.”
He sat again.
“Prove it.”
“I saw him.”
“When?”
“Two months after his funeral.”
“Where?”
“My father’s house.”
She had arrived unexpectedly and heard voices in Jonathan’s library.
Victor stood near the fireplace, thinner but unmistakably alive.
He and Jonathan were discussing Ellie, the trust and a file called Northstar.
Sabrina listened from the corridor.
“My father said the wedding had to happen before Ellie was acknowledged,” she explained. “Victor said he needed more time.”
“Why would Victor want the wedding?”
“To force my father into the open.”
“And you?”
“I thought Victor planned to expose Jonathan during the ceremony. I believed that if I married you first, the scandal could not remove me from the family.”
“So you continued hiding my daughter.”
“Yes.”
The direct admission carried no comfort.
“You went to Leah’s apartment.”
“I wanted her gone before Victor used her.”
“You attacked her.”
“I panicked.”
“You swung a hockey stick at a mother holding a child.”
“I said I panicked.”
Evan’s voice hardened.
“That is an explanation, not forgiveness.”
Sabrina looked down.
For years, she had believed every terrible act could be softened by naming the fear beneath it.
“I know,” she whispered.
Naomi placed Victor’s photograph on the table.
“Was this taken at the facility where you saw him?”
Sabrina nodded.
“It belongs to a company called Northstar Recovery.”
“What does it recover?”
“People, identities, evidence. My father described it as a place where powerful clients could disappear.”
“Did Victor enter willingly?”
“I don’t know.”
“You said they were working together.”
“They were pretending to. Each believed he was trapping the other.”
Evan leaned forward.
“Where is Jonathan going?”
Sabrina looked at him.
“He has a plane registered through a shell company. It leaves from a private airport tomorrow night.”
“For where?”
“I will tell you after you protect me.”
Naomi shook her head.
“You are in no position to negotiate.”
“My father will kill me if he believes I betrayed him.”
“You already did.”
“He does not know what I copied.”
Sabrina revealed that the drive hidden inside her necklace contained more than Victor’s message. Another encrypted partition held Jonathan’s financial records.
The technician had not detected it because a password was required.
“What is the password?” Naomi asked.
“I want immunity.”
“You assaulted Leah on video.”
“Reduced charges, then.”
Evan looked at her.
“Give us the password. Tell us where Jonathan is going. Testify to everything. I will not ask the prosecutor for mercy, but I will tell the truth if they ask whether you helped.”
Sabrina laughed bitterly.
“You always find a way to remain honorable while someone else pays the price.”
“Leah paid for your choices. Ellie paid for them. My mother and Claire paid for my father’s choices. You are finally being asked to pay for your own.”
Sabrina’s eyes filled, though no tears fell.
“The password is the date you proposed.”
“I never proposed to you.”
“Exactly.”
She gave Naomi eight digits.
The drive opened.
It contained payments to private investigators, judges, medical staff and corporate officials. There were also messages between Jonathan and a Northstar administrator.
One message had been sent the morning of Victor’s crash.
SUBJECT HAS AGREED TO REPLACEMENT PROCEDURE.
Another was sent two days later.
PUBLIC DEATH CONFIRMED. SUBJECT TRANSFERRED.
Evan felt sick.
Victor had staged his death.
But the latest message changed everything.
SUBJECT V.H. ATTEMPTED EXIT. CONDITION CRITICAL. REQUESTING INSTRUCTION.
Jonathan’s response arrived three weeks earlier.
KEEP HIM ALIVE UNTIL THE GIRL IS SECURED.
Which girl?
Ellie, Claire or Sabrina?
Sabrina gave them the private airport location.
Jonathan’s plane was scheduled to leave for Iceland, but its final destination was not listed.
Naomi left to coordinate an arrest operation.
Evan remained for one final question.
“Did you ever love me?”
Sabrina looked toward the small barred window.
“I loved the life beside you.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“I don’t know if anyone ever taught me the difference.”
Evan stood.
At the door, Sabrina called his name.
“Northstar has a rule. When a hidden client becomes a liability, they erase every relative who can identify them.”
Evan turned.
May you like
Sabrina’s voice dropped.
“If Victor escaped, they will come for Ellie.”
