Chapter 5 - What Selena Knew

Sebastian moved first.

He crossed the archive room in three strides and stopped between Selena and the shelves.

“How did you get into my house?”

Selena looked past him at Maggie.

“Your housekeeper knows me.”

“That was not an answer.”

“I came to speak to Maggie.”

Sebastian’s expression hardened.

Maggie closed the folder and placed it on the table.

“Why?”

Selena finally met Sebastian’s eyes.

“Because my father is lying to both of you.”

The sentence did not soften him.

“If you know something, say it.”

Selena’s laugh was brief and exhausted.

“This is exactly why I wanted Maggie.”

Maggie pushed her glasses higher.

“Then talk to me.”

Sebastian looked at her.

She knew that look now.

Not permission.

Concern.

She gave him a small nod.

Selena removed her coat and sat on the edge of a wooden chair.

For the first time since Maggie had known her, she looked less than perfectly arranged. Her lipstick was gone. Her hair had loosened around one temple.

“My father told me the Rinaldis cheated us out of Bellweather,” she said. “He’s told that story since I was a teenager.”

“Why would he tell you?” Maggie asked.

“Because he wanted me to hate Sebastian.”

Sebastian’s face did not change.

Selena did not look at him.

“Our families spent years pretending we were friends when it was useful. Weddings. benefits. boards. My father wanted the relationship close enough to profit from and bitter enough that no one trusted anyone.”

Maggie thought of breakfast.

Some seats are earned.

“You helped with that,” she said.

Selena flinched.

“Yes.”

Sebastian glanced at Maggie.

She kept her attention on Selena.

“What did Malcolm tell you about the original project?”

“That his financing was approved and your father killed the deal after using Veseri contacts to secure zoning.”

Sebastian shook his head.

“The zoning came later.”

“I know that now.”

“How?”

Selena opened her handbag.

Sebastian’s shoulders tightened.

She noticed.

Slowly, she removed a plain flash drive and placed it on the table.

“I found copies of my father’s old correspondence.”

Maggie did not touch it.

“Where?”

“In our family office.”

“Why were you looking?”

“Because after dinner he called me and told me not to speak to either of you.”

“That made you suspicious?”

“That made me angry.”

Selena looked at Maggie.

“He also asked whether you had said anything about the old river project.”

Maggie felt a quiet click inside her mind.

“That means he knew the real agreement could surface.”

“Yes.”

“Why give us this?”

Selena’s mouth tightened.

“Because he used me.”

Sebastian crossed his arms.

“You have just discovered Malcolm Veseri manipulates people?”

“No.”

Selena turned on him.

“I discovered he expected me to help him commit fraud.”

The room went still.

Maggie asked, “How?”

“He wanted me to persuade you to settle before the original box could be recovered.”

Sebastian gave a cold smile.

“That explains breakfast.”

Selena looked down.

“He told me if Maggie felt insecure enough, she would avoid the dinner.”

Maggie absorbed that.

The humiliation at breakfast sharpened in memory.

Not random cruelty.

Strategy.

“You agreed?” she asked.

Selena’s eyes lifted.

“I agreed to make you uncomfortable.”

Honest.

Ugly.

Maggie appreciated both facts.

“I did not know the record was forged,” Selena continued. “I thought the claim rested on the old memorandum.”

“Did you know the financing deadline was missed?”

“No.”

Maggie looked at Sebastian.

“Do you have independent proof?”

He considered.

“My father’s calendar. Bank files. Correspondence.”

“Then we verify it.”

Selena stared.

“You believe me?”

“No,” Maggie said.

Selena blinked.

“I believe parts of what you said can be tested.”

For a second, Selena looked almost amused.

“That is a very Maggie answer.”

“You barely know me.”

“I underestimated you. That is not the same as not noticing you.”

Sebastian’s expression suggested he disliked that sentence.

Maggie ignored him.

“What is on the drive?”

“Scans of letters, meeting notes, and one internal memo from my father’s office.”

“About Bellweather?”

“Yes.”

“Anything created recently?”

“No.”

“Any proof Thomas or Claire helped him?”

“No.”

“Any mention of Halcyon?”

“No.”

Maggie nodded.

That mattered.

A liar trying to buy trust often gave exactly what the listener wanted.

Selena was not doing that.

Sebastian pointed toward the flash drive.

“Henry examines it first.”

“Fine.”

“On an isolated machine.”

“Fine.”

“Then Daniel verifies when and where it was copied.”

Selena’s temper returned.

“Fine.”

Maggie almost smiled.

An hour later, Henry arrived.

So did Daniel.

The files were genuine enough to take seriously, though their content would require independent verification.

One letter, written by Malcolm twenty-three years earlier, complained that Rinaldi had refused to extend the financing deadline.

Another instructed his attorney to “preserve every theory available regarding the eastern parcel.”

There was nothing illegal in that.

But the language showed motive.

The final memo was more interesting.

It had been written six months earlier.

Malcolm had ordered a review of “historical alternatives” to support a renewed Bellweather claim before the rezoning increased the property’s value.

Sebastian read it twice.

“He started before the zoning was public.”

Henry frowned.

“Someone tipped him.”

Thomas had known.

So had city officials, planners, lawyers, and consultants.

The suspect list widened again.

Maggie felt oddly relieved.

A wider list was safer than a convenient villain.

Daniel entered from the hall.

“We found Evan Donnelly.”

Claire’s brother.

“Where?” Sebastian asked.

“Atlantic City.”

Claire, who had been called in for the review, went pale.

“He said he was in Brooklyn.”

“He checked into a casino hotel yesterday.”

Maggie asked, “Under his name?”

“Yes.”

“That doesn’t sound like someone hiding.”

Daniel nodded.

“He also paid cash for a bus ticket.”

Sebastian looked impatient.

“Can we speak to him?”

“He is on his way back.”

Claire stood.

“I’m going.”

“No,” Sebastian said.

She turned on him.

“That’s my brother.”

“It may also be a witness.”

“Exactly.”

Maggie stepped between the argument before it grew.

“Claire should come.”

Sebastian looked at her.

“She may influence him.”

“She may also be the only reason he talks.”

Claire’s eyes filled.

“Please.”

Sebastian looked away first.

“Daniel decides how.”

Evan arrived at the Rinaldi office shortly after midnight.

He looked younger than Maggie expected. Thirty, maybe. His face had the exhausted puffiness of someone who slept badly and lied often.

Claire hugged him.

He held on longer than a casual reunion required.

Then he saw Sebastian.

His body changed.

Fear arrived instantly.

Maggie noticed.

So did everyone else.

Sebastian stayed seated.

“Mr. Donnelly,” he said.

Evan swallowed.

“Mr. Rinaldi.”

“No one here is going to hurt you.”

Evan looked at Daniel.

“That supposed to make me feel better?”

“No,” Sebastian said. “It is supposed to be clear.”

Maggie watched Claire.

She looked relieved.

That mattered more than Evan’s reaction.

Henry asked the questions.

The story came out in pieces.

Evan’s gambling debt had reached eighty-four thousand dollars.

A Veseri club manager named Paul Gatti offered to clear it if Evan performed “small favors.”

At first, favors meant information.

When did Claire work late?

Which executives visited the Rinaldi offices?

Did the company have outside storage vendors?

Then Gatti asked Evan to photograph Claire’s desk when he brought her forgotten folder.

Evan did.

One photo showed the Halcyon work order.

Two weeks later, his debt vanished.

“Did you steal the Bellweather file?” Henry asked.

“No.”

“Did you enter the office today?”

“No.”

“Did you give anyone your sister’s badge?”

“No.”

“Did Gatti contact you today?”

Evan hesitated.

“Yes.”

“What did he say?”

“That I should leave town.”

Claire closed her eyes.

“Why?”

“He said Mr. Rinaldi would think I stole something.”

Sebastian’s expression went completely still.

Maggie felt cold.

The stolen file had been staged.

Not to erase evidence.

To point at Evan.

“Do you still have the phone?” Daniel asked.

Evan pulled it from his pocket.

“I didn’t delete anything.”

That was the first piece of luck Maggie trusted.

Because frightened people forgot to behave perfectly.

Daniel took the device for preservation.

Henry continued.

“Did Gatti ever mention Thomas Vale?”

“No.”

“Malcolm Veseri?”

“Once.”

Everyone leaned forward.

Evan rubbed both palms over his face.

“He said Mr. Veseri was finally going to get what should have been his.”

“What did you think that meant?”

“I thought it was about a construction deal.”

“Anything else?”

Evan looked at Maggie.

“There was a woman.”

Selena’s expression changed.

“What woman?”

“I don’t know her name. She met Gatti twice at the club. Blonde.”

Every eye went to Selena.

She stared at Evan.

“You think it was me?”

“I don’t know.”

Maggie asked, “How tall?”

Evan thought.

“Shorter.”

“Age?”

“Maybe forty.”

“Did she work there?”

“No.”

“Did you hear anything?”

“One name.”

Maggie waited.

“Bellweather.”

Selena sat very still.

Then something shifted in her face.

“I know who she is.”

Sebastian’s attention snapped to her.

Selena looked at Malcolm’s old memo on the table.

“My father’s private attorney has a daughter.”

Henry frowned.

“The attorney at dinner was a man.”

“Not him.”

Selena swallowed.

“His former estate lawyer. Evelyn Cross.”

Sebastian knew the name.

Maggie could tell.

“What?” she asked.

He looked at her.

“Evelyn handled my father’s personal papers before he died.”

The connection landed slowly.

Not Veseri records.

Rinaldi records.

Maggie turned toward the basement stairs.

“If Malcolm needed the old memorandum,” she said, “he may not have found it in his own archive.”

Sebastian stood.

They returned to the basement.

The negotiation file was still on the table.

Maggie opened it again.

She examined the folder edges.

Then the box.

There was dust on every neighboring folder.

Not this one.

Her stomach tightened.

“Someone was here before us.”

Sebastian looked at the shelf.

“How recently?”

“I can’t tell.”

She lifted the memorandum carefully.

Behind it, on the yellow folder, was a faint rectangular impression where another sheet had rested for years.

Something had been removed.

Selena stared.

“What?”

Maggie angled the folder beneath the lamp.

There were pressure marks from handwritten lines.

No readable words.

Just evidence that a page had once been there.

Sebastian’s voice dropped.

“What was it?”

Maggie looked at him.

“I don’t know.”

This time, the uncertainty did not weaken the mystery.

It sharpened it.

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Because if Evelyn Cross had handled Rinaldi family papers and Malcolm knew exactly which box to challenge, then the forged public record might only be the visible half of the plan.

The missing private page could be the reason the plan existed at all.