Chapter 16 - The Last Threat
The court did not allow Rebecca’s attorneys to interrogate Sophie in open court.
Instead, the judge appointed a child specialist to conduct a limited recorded interview.
Nathan was relieved.
Sophie was not.
“I want to tell her.”
“Tell who?”
“Rebecca.”
Nathan crouched.
“You don’t owe her anything.”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
“Because she always talked when nobody else was there.”
Nathan understood.
Secrets lived best without witnesses.
The judge permitted Sophie to provide a short statement through the specialist.
Rebecca watched remotely from detention.
Sophie sat in a comfortable room holding her astronomy notebook.
The specialist asked, “Did you think Rebecca was your mother?”
Sophie answered, “She told people she was.”
“Did you love her?”
Sophie looked confused by the question.
“Sometimes.”
Nathan, watching from another room, closed his eyes.
Truth could be complicated.
Sophie continued.
“She made pancakes shaped like stars. She helped me with spelling. Sometimes she hugged me when I had nightmares.”
Elena cried silently.
Then Sophie said, “But whenever I asked if my mom was coming back, Rebecca got angry.”
“Did she tell you anything about Elena?”
“She said Mom left because I cried too much when I was little.”
Nathan’s hands clenched.
“She said Daddy married her because he needed a better wife.”
Rebecca’s attorney objected.
The specialist continued gently.
“Why did you keep the notebook?”
“Because Mom wrote things in it.”
“Did Rebecca want you to keep it?”
“No.”
“What happened at the planetarium?”
Sophie’s fingers tightened around the cover.
“She ripped it.”
A long silence.
“And hit me.”
Rebecca turned her face away on the video feed.
The adoption hearing lasted two days.
Pike testified under immunity regarding his false affidavit and Rebecca’s threats.
Gavin testified about the financial motive.
Keene authenticated Elena’s attempts to contact Sophie.
Mara produced returned letters.
Daniel described the security breaches.
The court vacated Rebecca’s adoption order on grounds of fraud upon the court.
Nathan expected triumph.
He felt only exhaustion.
Rebecca remained legally married to him, however, until divorce proceedings could be completed.
And Asterion’s merger threat remained.
Northstar had invoked debt covenants.
If Asterion could not refinance within ten business days, lenders could force asset sales.
Rebecca and Gavin’s scheme might succeed even with both in jail.
Elena’s twenty-four percent shares were no longer frozen by Rebecca’s parental strategy, but Elena faced civil claims.
Nathan’s shares were tied up.
Asterion was vulnerable.
Rebecca knew it.
That evening she requested a privileged marital settlement conference through lawyers.
Nathan refused.
Then Rebecca sent one page through counsel.
A copy of an unreleased guarantee.
Nathan’s signature.
A personal guarantee covering $28 million of Asterion debt.
His attorney examined it.
“It may be authentic.”
Nathan remembered signing a financing package during the cash crisis.
If enforceable, he could lose nearly everything.
Rebecca offered a deal.
Nathan would support the Northstar merger.
In exchange, she would provide evidence proving which lenders were controlled by Northlight and surrender claims against family property.
Elena read the proposal.
“She still wants the company.”
“No.”
Nathan looked at the numbers.
“She wants the evidence destroyed during merger integration.”
They had forty-eight hours before Northstar’s final deadline.
Keene said federal prosecutors could seize some assets, but not fast enough to solve Asterion’s legitimate debt.
Nathan asked, “What does Rebecca still think exists?”
Elena immediately answered.
“The original ledger.”
“The one you moved from Hart Ridge?”
“Yes.”
“Where is it?”
Elena hesitated.
Nathan stared.
“You never told anyone?”
“No.”
“Where?”
She looked at Sophie’s repaired notebook.
“Not in the notebook.”
“Then where?”
Elena whispered, “The planetarium.”
Nathan almost laughed.
“We searched every server.”
“Not digital.”
They went there after midnight.
Elena walked beneath the central projector.
“Sophie’s star sequence did two things. It opened the message and aligned the telescope. But there was another sequence.”
Sophie, who had insisted on accompanying them with Mara, opened the notebook.
Elena pointed to the first page Rebecca had torn.
It was missing.
Sophie suddenly said, “I know it.”
Everyone turned.
“I memorized it.”
She approached the console.
Five stars.
Two.
Eight.
One.
The projector pedestal clicked.
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside was a sealed archival box.
Elena began crying.
“I thought Rebecca found it.”
Nathan opened the box.
Original contracts.
A ledger.
Handwritten notes.
And a hardware authentication token tying Rebecca’s and Gavin’s accounts to forged transfers.
Enough to distinguish genuine approvals from falsified ones.
Enough to save Asterion from parts of the manufactured debt.
Enough to destroy Rebecca’s final leverage.
Then Daniel’s phone rang.
His expression changed.
“Police transport just reported an incident.”
Nathan’s stomach dropped.
“What happened?”
“Rebecca never reached the detention center after the hearing.”
Elena stared.
Daniel continued.
“The transport officer was working for a private contractor Northlight used years ago.”
Nathan understood.
Rebecca was free.
And she knew exactly where they would eventually find the ledger.
The planetarium doors locked.
All lights died.
Then Rebecca’s voice came through the speaker system.
“Thank you, Sophie.”
Nathan looked up.
May you like
Rebecca continued.
“You finally opened the compartment I could never find.”
