Chapter 5 - The Web Unravels
While I spent the next three days recovering in the high-security maternity wing of Saint Jude, the world outside was experiencing a media earthquake.
The arrest of Flynn Vance-Sterling and Dr. Julian Vance hit the national news networks by six o'clock that evening. The narrative of a wealthy, handsome associate architect attempting to murder his heiress wife during delivery to run away with his pregnant mistress captivated the public’s darkest fascinations.
On the fourth morning after Leo’s birth, I sat up in my hospital bed, wearing a dark blue silk robe, holding Leo in my arms while ADA Sarah Lin and Arthur sat in the armchairs opposite me.
Sarah opened a thick black legal binder, laying out several police reports and bank statements across the rolling tray table.
"Flynn’s defense counsel attempted to request bail this morning," Sarah reported, a cold smile touching her lips. "The judge took one look at the audio recording, the seized bacterial cultures, and the flight itineraries to Colombia found on Flynn’s laptop, and denied bail completely. He is being held at the county correctional facility without bond pending trial."
"What about Dr. Vance?" I asked, gently rocking Leo as he slept.
"Dr. Vance broke under interrogation within six hours," Arthur interjected. "He gave a full confession in exchange for a plea bargain. He admitted that Flynn offered him five hundred thousand dollars and promised to clear his two-hundred-thousand-dollar debt with the Atlantic City loan sharks. Vance also confessed that this wasn't the first time Flynn had approached him about manipulating your medical records."
I froze, looking up from my baby. "What do you mean?"
"Three months ago," Sarah explained, pointing to a certified medical audit report, "when you were admitted for mild dehydration, Dr. Vance altered your hormone therapy prescriptions to induce early labor contractions. You thought it was a natural complication, but it was Flynn’s first attempt to force an early, dangerous delivery."
A cold shudder ran down my spine. The man I had shared a bed with for seven years hadn't just tried to kill me on the night of my delivery—he had been slowly, methodically sabotaging my health for months, waiting for the right moment to strike.
"And Selina?" I asked, my voice dropping into an icy register. "What is her status?"
Sarah pulled out a separate file folder stamped with a red state seal.
"Selina Vance was arrested yesterday afternoon at her apartment," Sarah said. "When the troopers entered, she was packing four large suitcases with eighty thousand dollars in cash, sixteen luxury designer handbags purchased with embezzled Vance Commercial funds, and two passport applications for herself and her unborn child."
"Is she claiming ignorance?"
"She tried to," Sarah sneered. "She told the arresting officers that she had no idea Flynn was planning anything violent and that she believed Flynn was already divorced from you. But we seized her phone."
Sarah tapped the tablet screen, bringing up a series of text messages exchanged between Flynn and Selina three days before my delivery:
Selina: "Is it going to happen this week? I’m tired of staying in this apartment. My belly is showing."
Flynn: "Calm down. The doctor is locked in for Thursday morning. By Friday afternoon, Mabel’s trust is under my sole administration. You’ll have the house in the Hamptons by next month."
Selina: "Make sure that baby comes out alive, Flynn. I’m not raising a stepchild. I want the inheritance clear."
I stared at the screen, reading the heartless words written by a woman who had sat at my dining table, drunk my wine, and complimented my home decor.
"Charge her as a co-conspirator to attempted first-degree murder," I instructed ADA Lin, my voice hard as diamonds. "Do not offer her a plea deal. Do not drop a single charge. I want her to face the full statutory maximum."
May you like
"She’s twenty weeks pregnant, Mabel," Sarah pointed out gently. "The court will allow her to give birth under medical supervision in the correctional facility before her trial begins."
"Good," I replied, looking down at my son's peaceful face. "Then her child will enter this world knowing that his mother chose greed over humanity. And when that child is born, I will ensure he is placed with a decent adoptive family far away from the poison of Selina and Flynn."
