Chapter 4 - The House of Cards Collapses
By sunset, the reality of his absolute ruin had set in. With no access to his penthouses, no credit cards, and federal investigators circling his associates, Flynn had only one place left to go. He took the subway to the luxury townhouse he had illegally purchased for Selina, desperate for a safe harbor and the comfort of the mistress who had promised him unwavering devotion.
He used his key to unlock the heavy oak door, calling her name.
He found Selina standing in the center of the grand living room, surrounded by dozens of expensive designer suitcases. She was wearing a trench coat, furiously tapping away on her smartphone. Her fifteen-month-old son was sitting in a stroller near the door.
"Selina, thank God," Flynn breathed, rushing forward to pull her into his arms. "It’s a nightmare. Mabel froze everything. She took the company. But it’s going to be okay. We just need to lay low, hire a defense attorney, and fight her in court. We still have each other."
Selina didn't hug him back. She placed both hands on his chest and shoved him backward with surprising force.
"Fight her with what money, Flynn?" Selina snapped, her sweet, subservient demeanor vanishing entirely, replaced by the vicious calculation of a pure opportunist. "My black card declined at Chanel this morning. I called the bank, and they told me the account is under federal investigation. Do you have any idea how embarrassing that was?"
"I'll fix it! I just need time!" Flynn pleaded, looking at the woman he had thrown away his marriage for.
"You don't have time. And you don't have money," Selina sneered, grabbing the handles of her designer luggage. "I didn't waste two years of my youth playing the devoted mistress to a bankrupt fraud facing federal prison time. I want luxury, Flynn. Not a legal battle."
"But... our son," Flynn stammered, pointing at the toddler in the stroller. "He is the Vance heir! He is our future!"
Selina let out a harsh, mocking laugh that cut Flynn to the bone. She looked at him with absolute pity. "Are you really that stupid, Flynn? Do you honestly think I was going to risk my figure for a mid-level manager? He isn't your son. He belongs to the head of the acquisitions department. I just needed a wealthy idiot to sign the birth certificate so I could secure the townhouse and the child support."
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Flynn fell to his knees on the hardwood floor, clutching his chest as if he had been physically shot. The male heir he had sacrificed his true daughter for, the legacy he had burned his marriage to the ground to protect, was nothing but a magnificent, cruel lie.
"Have a nice life, Flynn," Selina said coldly. She pushed the stroller out the front door, leaving him completely alone in an empty house that the federal government was scheduled to seize by morning.
