Chapter 7 - The Woman Behind the Empire
Isabella Flores had been dead for nine years.
At least according to Dempster.
Selena stared at the television.
“That’s impossible.”
Dempster was already calling his security chief.
The plate belonged to a Bentley registered to a Flores family trust.
It had remained in storage since Isabella’s death.
Someone removed it three days earlier.
Matthew looked disturbed.
“There are only four people with access.”
“Name them,” Dempster said.
“You. Me. The estate attorney.”
“And?”
Matthew hesitated.
“Mother’s sister.”
Dempster went still.
Camilla Flores-Vega lived in Madrid.
Or claimed to.
She had managed Flores family trusts for decades.
Within hours, Selena’s model uncovered payments from Camilla’s accounts to Crown Meridian Holdings.
Then something worse.
Camilla had financed Alidoro’s company.
The five-million-dollar debt wasn’t random.
It had been engineered.
Alidoro had been pushed toward Selena deliberately.
“He dated me because of my father?”
Selena felt physically ill.
Matthew answered carefully.
“Maybe initially.”
“That’s supposed to help?”
“No.”
Every cruel dinner.
Every manipulation.
Every stolen financial model.
Maybe none of it had begun with love.
Dempster stood beside her.
“Camilla wanted access to your work.”
“Why?”
Matthew looked at Dempster.
“Because Serrano isn’t the head of the network.”
Silence.
“He works for Camilla.”
Dempster laughed once.
Coldly.
“My aunt?”
“She started moving illicit cargo through the company while Dad was still alive.”
Dempster turned away.
Another family betrayal.
Another person he loved becoming someone else.
That evening, Judge Rebecca Kane agreed to meet at a private courthouse chamber.
Selena, Dempster, and Matthew arrived separately.
Rebecca was seventy, silver-haired, and unimpressed by Dempster’s reputation.
She examined the evidence.
“This could dismantle an international laundering operation.”
“Can you protect Selena?” Dempster asked.
Rebecca looked at him.
“I can authorize protective custody.”
“No.”
Selena spoke before Dempster could.
Everyone turned.
“If I disappear, Camilla knows we found her.”
“What are you suggesting?” Rebecca asked.
Selena looked at the diamond on her hand.
“We give her what she thinks she wants.”
Dempster understood immediately.
“No.”
Selena ignored him.
“We announce the marriage publicly.”
“We are not married,” he reminded her.
“I know.”
“Then that would be a lie.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“You run an alleged criminal empire and suddenly lying bothers you?”
Matthew coughed to hide a laugh.
Dempster glared at him.
Selena continued.
“Camilla thinks Dempster married me because he wants my model. She’ll assume we’re consolidating the evidence.”
Rebecca nodded slowly.
“She may approach.”
“Exactly.”
Dempster folded his arms.
“And if she shoots you instead?”
“Then your security team should try very hard to prevent that.”
The plan was dangerous.
Which was why it worked.
The following night, Dempster and Selena appeared together at a charity event at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Cameras exploded when they stepped from the car.
Selena wore emerald green.
No shapewear designed to make her disappear.
No dress selected to make her look smaller.
For once, she chose something because she loved it.
Dempster offered his arm.
“You ready?”
“No.”
“Good.”
She laughed.
“Why good?”
“Because only idiots aren’t frightened when something matters.”
They entered.
Reporters shouted.
“Mrs. Flores!”
“Is the marriage real?”
“Were you intoxicated?”
“Did Mr. Flores pay your ex-boyfriend?”
Selena stopped.
Dempster murmured, “You don’t owe them anything.”
“I know.”
She turned toward the cameras.
“My relationship with Mr. Flores is my choice. Nobody purchased me. Nobody owns me.”
Dempster watched her.
Something in his expression changed.
Pride.
Inside the gala, Selena spotted Alidoro.
Across the ballroom.
Alive.
He disappeared through a service door.
Selena followed before Dempster could stop her.
She entered an empty gallery.
“Alidoro?”
He stepped from behind a marble column.
His face was bruised.
“I’m sorry.”
“You have thirty seconds.”
“Camilla’s here.”
Selena froze.
“She knows about Judge Kane.”
“How?”
“Someone told her.”
“Who?”
Alidoro looked terrified.
“I don’t know.”
A sound came behind Selena.
Click.
A gun being cocked.
Dempster stood at the gallery entrance.
But he wasn’t holding it.
Judge Rebecca Kane was.
The barrel pointed directly at Selena.
Dempster stopped.
May you like
Rebecca smiled.
“I’m afraid your father trusted the wrong judge.”
