Chapter 6 - THE TRUTH SELENA CARRIED
Selena was waiting in an abandoned theater.
She looked exhausted.
No designer dress.
No makeup.
No security.
Just a woman who had finally realized she had lost.
I entered.
She looked at me.
“You came.”
“Talk.”
She laughed.
“You sound like your father.”
“What do you know about Arthur?”
“He wasn't working for Victor.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“He was working against him.”
I stared.
“Then why did you say his name?”
“To make you suspicious.”
“Why?”
“Because Victor wanted me to.”
She explained.
After the gala, Victor realized the plan had failed.
He needed someone else to manipulate me.
He used Selena.
But Selena had discovered something.
Victor had never intended to save her family.
He planned to take everything from them too.
She had been disposable.
“So you betrayed him?”
“Yes.”
“Why should I believe you?”
She reached into her bag.
She pulled out a small recorder.
“I recorded him.”
She pressed play.
Victor's voice filled the theater.
“Once Aria signs, the foundation becomes ours.”
Another voice asked:
“And Selena?”
Victor laughed.
“She gets nothing.”
Selena looked at me.
“I thought I was helping my family.”
“You attacked me.”
“I know.”
“You humiliated me.”
“I know.”
“You tore my dress.”
She looked down.
“I was jealous.”
I said nothing.
She began crying.
“I spent my whole life believing money made me important.”
I stared at her.
“It doesn't.”
“I know that now.”
She handed me the recorder.
“There is something else.”
“What?”
“Victor planned to destroy the foundation if he couldn't control it.”
“How?”
“By exposing false financial reports.”
I froze.
“Tomorrow morning?”
“Yes.”
“Then the board will panic.”
“And the donors will leave.”
“And the foundation collapses.”
She nodded.
I immediately called Rachel.
“Lock every financial system.”
Rachel answered:
“Already done.”
I looked at Selena.
“Who has access?”
She gave me a name.
The foundation's chief financial officer.
My heart sank.
He had worked with us for eight years.
We trusted him.
We found him at his house.
He confessed within minutes.
Victor had paid him.
He had already prepared fake reports.
But he hadn't sent them.
Because he was afraid.
We recovered everything.
Victor's plan failed.
Selena was taken into custody again.
Before leaving, she looked at me.
“Do you hate me?”
I thought about the ballroom.
The torn dress.
The laughter.
The humiliation.
“No.”
She looked surprised.
“But I will never trust you.”
She nodded.
“I understand.”
Then she walked away.
The next morning, the foundation board met.
I entered the room wearing a simple black suit.
No gown.
No diamonds.
No attempt to impress anyone.
I placed Victor's recordings on the table.
Then I explained the trust.
The foundation didn't belong to me.
It didn't belong to Charlotte.
It belonged to the mission.
The board voted unanimously to protect it.
The charity's legal structure was changed.
No individual could ever take control again.
The children would always come first.
After the meeting, Charlotte hugged me.
“We did it.”
I smiled.
“We did.”
Then Arthur entered.
He looked serious.
“Aria.”
“What?”
“There is one final document.”
He handed me an envelope.
I opened it.
It was from my father.
Dated one week before his death.
The final sentence read:
If Victor ever falls, look beneath the foundation.
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Arthur looked at Charlotte.
May you like
Then at me.
“It means the foundation was never the real secret.”
