CHAPTER 124: Why Me

POV: Selene Castellano

“No,” Avalon said immediately. “ Absolutely not.”

“Avalon—”

"She’s not going to be having a one-on-one conversation with him, not after what happened last night."

Nunez raised her hand, signaling for attention. "This is a federal facility we're talking about," she said. "There are cameras everywhere, and agents are always present in the room. I would be there myself, overseeing everything."

“Why me,” Selene said, looking at Nunez. “ Did he say why?”

"Nunez spoke up, saying 'He told us you'd get it once you heard the story,' but that's all he was willing to share."

“What’s his name?” Selene asked.

"Daniel Ross," Nunez explained, "A former private investigator who spent nearly fifteen years working with Whitmore's network, and he was actually Reeves' go-to guy for fieldwork."

The name meant nothing to her.

Avalon didn't agree at first, but then Nunez made a deal with him - he could watch everything that was happening from another room, see and hear every single word, and that's when Avalon finally said yes.

Daniel Ross was sitting across the table, a pretty ordinary-looking guy, the kind of person you wouldn't notice in a crowd, which made him perfect for surveillance work. He was unremarkable, with a face that didn't stand out, and a demeanor that was calm and collected. When Selene walked in, his hands were cuffed, a stark contrast to Ross's relaxed posture.

"Mrs. Pierce," he said with a nod, "thank you for taking the time to come here today."

“You asked for me,” Selene said, sitting. “ Why?”

He said it was because of the foundation she had laid, because of what she was building. He had been watching the Pierce  family for a long time, and he believed that Selene was the only one who would really understand what he was about to say, rather than just having a knee-jerk reaction to it. There was something about her, something in the foundation she was building, that made him think she could handle the truth. "I've been watching you for a long time," he said, "and I think you're the only one who might actually get what I'm saying, instead of just reacting to it without thinking."

“Tell me.”

Ross revealed that Whitmore's secrecy wasn't just about hiding his own involvement with her husband's father, but about shielding a whole network of people who had also gained from a similar arrangement many years ago. And what's more, some of these individuals still hold powerful positions today.

Selene’s pulse quickened.

“What people?” she asked.

“I have a list,” Ross said. “ Names I documented over the years, in case I ever needed leverage of my own. People on city committees who control funding decisions that would directly affect organizations like yours.”

“You’re saying the foundation has enemies we don’t know about yet.”

Ross spoke cautiously, "The gap you're trying to bridge, the one Susan Park mentioned, the difference between what gets funding and what actually makes a difference in people's lives - some of that gap remains because certain individuals on this list have a vested interest in keeping it that way. It's about contracts, kickbacks, and old agreements that have been in place for decades that have never really been questioned or challenged."

He slid a folder across the table.

Selene opened it.

Names, dates and connections she recognized from foundation meetings, city council sessions and places she’d never thought to look.

“Why give me this?” she asked. “ Why now?”

Ross was quiet for a moment.

He said, "It's over for Reeves, and Whitmore is gone. I'm looking at spending decades behind bars no matter what I choose to do now. The only thing I have control over is whether the next thirty years of corruption continue with my silence or not." He stopped for a moment, collecting his thoughts. "I saw you stand up at that gala and answer a question from a woman who's no longer with us. I thought you were genuine, that you really meant what you said."

Selene looked at the folder again.

"It's a complicated situation and it may take a long time to figure out what's going on," she said, "and that's assuming it's not just a false lead."

"It's the real deal," Ross told her, handing it over. "From now on, it's all yours. What you choose to do with it is entirely up to you."

As Avalon let out a slow breath in the next room, the tension that had been building up inside him since the meeting started began to fade away, just a little.

Not a threat to Elena.

It's not like some secret plot that's been hiding in the shadows, waiting to pounce on their darkest sorrows.

But then something unexpected happened - a door swung open, revealing the next major challenge that the foundation would have to confront head-on.

Nunez turned to him, a hint of surprise in her voice, "That's not what you were expecting, is it?"

“No,” Avalon admitted. “ I expected something worse.”

Nunez made a point that this is still a big deal, she said. "If just some of the information in that folder is true, it looks like there's a real network of corruption that's influencing how the city makes decisions about money."

Avalon watched Selene through the glass, her face focused, already turning the folder’s pages .

She glanced up, her eyes fixed on the glass that separated them, even if she couldn't catch a glimpse of him on the other side.

He pressed his hand against it anyway.

She walked out twenty minutes later, a folder tucked under her arm, and at first, it was hard to tell what she was thinking. But then she saw him, and her whole body seemed to unwind, her shoulders easing down as the tension melted away.

"It's not about Elena," she said right away, seeing the question in his eyes. "This is about the city, and the money, and all the people who have been making a profit from the same problems we're trying to fix."

Avalon let out a breath he’d been holding.

“That’s still serious,” he said.

"I know what I'm up against," she said, "and I'm ready for it."

She handed him the folder.

He glanced over it quickly, and his face changed from looking relieved to being completely focused, his mind made up.

“Amara needs to see this,” he said.

"Come on, everyone needs to know what's going on," Selene said, her voice firm. "We'll get James, Amara, and Margaret together tomorrow and sort out what's real and what's just some guy trying to make himself feel important before he's sentenced. We need to get to the bottom of this."

That night, finally home and alone, Selene sat on the couch with the folder closed on the coffee table between them.

She spoke softly, her voice barely above a whisper. "I thought it was all about Elena," she confessed. For a brief moment, she had been convinced that something awful was going to be revealed about her.

Avalon pulled her close.

"I know," he said, his voice low and thoughtful. "I had the same thought, watching it all unfold."

"She shook her head, her voice low and certain. It wasn't about her. There was only one person who had ever truly understood, and that was Catherine - but that was a whole different story, full of its own complexities and nuances. This, whatever it was, was something else entirely."

“No,” Avalon agreed. “ It’s not this.”

She collapsed against him, drained from the fear that had gripped her, only to discover it was all for nothing.

His phone buzzed on the table.

Amara.

A single text.

I came across something interesting while reading, some of the names mentioned are actually on our own board.