Chapter 5 - Justice at the Lake
The rain had turned into a thick, blinding fog by the time three police cruisers and my black SUV pulled up to the isolated wooden cabin nestled in the dense pine woods of Lake Geneva.
Red and blue emergency lights flashed silently against the wet trees, cutting through the pitch-black night.
Detective Miller, alongside four armed officers, approached the front door with weapons drawn. "Selina Cole! This is the police! Step outside with your hands visible!"
Silence echoed from inside the cabin.
Suddenly, a high-pitched, hysterical laugh shattered the quiet night.
"Flynn?!" Selina’s voice shrieked from the second-floor window. "Flynn, did you come for me?! I knew you’d come! I knew you didn't love that boring bitch!"
I stepped out of the SUV, holding an umbrella, flanked by Julian and two officers. I walked into the light of the cruisers, looking up at the silhouette in the window.
"Flynn isn't here, Selina," I called out, my voice resonant and clear against the pine trees.
Selina’s silhouette froze. She pressed her face against the glass. "Mabel?!" she screamed, her voice cracking with pure, unadulterated hatred. "You... why aren't you dead?! You were supposed to bleed out on that carpet!"
"I survived, Selina," I said, stepping closer. "And I know about the microphone in my car. I know you planned the entire thing."
"He loved me!" Selina shrieked, waving a small silver object in her hand—a lighter. "He never loved you! He drove that knife into you because he chose ME! He will always choose ME!"
"He's sitting in a county jail cell waiting for a twenty-year sentence because of you, Selina," I replied coldly. "He hates your very existence."
"LIAR!" she screamed.
Inside the room behind her, a faint orange glow suddenly flickered. The smell of gasoline wafted out through the open window. In her madness, realization that her web of lies had completely collapsed, Selina had poured accelerant across the cabin floor, intending to burn herself and her secrets to ash.
"ENTRY! MOVE NOW!" Detective Miller shouted.
The officers kicked open the heavy oak door, storming into the cabin with fire extinguishers. Within four minutes, they dragged Selina down the front steps, kicking, screaming, and covered in soot. Her expensive wig was crooked, her clothes were stained with gasoline, and her eyes were wild with total insanity.
As they pressed her face against the hood of a police cruiser to handcuff her, she looked at me, spitting wildly. "You took everything from me! You took my Flynn!"
I walked up to her, standing mere inches away, looking down at her pitiful, broken state without a trace of fear.
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"Flynn was never yours, Selina," I said softly, so only she could hear. "And he certainly isn't mine anymore. You ruined him, and he destroyed you. You deserve each other."
She let out a blood-curdling scream as the officers shoved her into the back of the cruiser and slammed the door shut.
