Chapter 18 - THE FIRST OBSTACLE
Michael Reeves had been twenty-two when he died.
Funny.
Restless.
Mechanical engineering student.
He wanted to design off-road vehicles.
Nora loved him with the intensity of being nineteen.
They discussed marriage in the careless way young people discuss futures they assume will wait.
Then Michael crashed on a mountain road.
Police said speed.
Nora blamed herself for years because they had argued that afternoon.
Michael left angry.
He died three hours later.
Now Kristina’s note called him an obstacle.
Nora felt the old grief open inside new horror.
“How did Kristina even know me?”
Daniel asked the same question.
The answer emerged from William’s files.
Kristina and William had crossed paths decades earlier through construction-industry investments.
Not friends.
Not partners.
Adversaries.
William once blocked a real-estate deal involving Robert Finch.
The Finches lost substantial money.
Kristina blamed William.
Nora had never known.
Years later, Kristina monitored William’s family.
Nora.
His only surviving child.
Her relationships.
Future inheritance.
Michael became relevant because William was considering gifting Nora shares and property after marriage.
If Nora married Michael, assets could move outside Kristina’s potential reach.
Why would Kristina care before Edgar entered?
Because Charles Harlan had already been helping Kristina target William’s estate.
Edgar was not originally the plan.
He became the plan after Michael died.
Nora stared at the timeline.
Halden investigated Michael.
Brake inspection irregularities existed.
A replacement brake line had been installed days before the crash.
No mechanic admitted doing it.
The part failed.
Investigators at the time considered manufacturing defect.
Case closed.
Now Halden was confronted.
Under pressure, he confessed.
Not to causing the crash directly.
To covering evidence.
Someone had tampered with Michael’s motorcycle.
Halden knew.
Kristina paid him.
He altered the investigative file.
Nora closed her eyes.
“Who tampered with it?”
Halden gave one name.
Robert Finch.
Kristina’s husband.
Nora stared.
Robert participated?
According to Halden, Robert followed Kristina’s instructions reluctantly.
Again.
Another weak husband.
Another man who knew enough.
Robert sabotaged Michael’s motorcycle.
He later regretted it.
That regret contributed to his desire to divorce Kristina.
Then Robert died.
The pattern completed itself.
Kristina recruited weak people.
Used fear.
Money.
Guilt.
Then removed them when they became dangerous.
Nora felt no satisfaction in understanding.
Only horror.
Michael died because Kristina wanted access to a family she had not yet fully infiltrated.
Then Robert died because he wanted out.
William died because he understood.
Lauren died because she discovered evidence.
Nora was next.
Heather became next after refusing.
Nathan and Elise might have become next if Kristina needed the twins.
There was no natural stopping point.
Only exposure could end it.
Prosecutors expanded cases.
The old Michael Reeves investigation reopened.
Robert’s death reopened.
William’s death became homicide-related inquiry.
Lauren’s crash became homicide.
Kristina’s legal situation transformed from severe to catastrophic.
Edgar faced worsening exposure too.
Did he know about Michael?
Investigators asked.
He denied it.
Evidence suggested he truly may not have.
Kristina kept earlier crimes compartmentalized.
By the time Edgar met Nora, Michael had been dead nearly a decade.
Edgar was used as a later instrument.
Nora felt no relief.
At 2:15 p.m., Kristina requested one final meeting.
Prosecutors allowed limited communication because investigators hoped she would confess further.
Nora agreed.
Kristina appeared angry.
Tired.
Less controlled.
“You opened the warehouse safe.”
Nora nodded.
“You weren’t supposed to yet.”
Nora almost smiled.
“When was I supposed to?”
“After I was dead?”
Kristina laughed.
“After you understood.”
“I understand enough.”
“No.”
Kristina leaned closer.
“You still think this was about money.”
“It was.”
“Partly.”
Nora waited.
Kristina’s expression changed.
For the first time, something like old hatred surfaced.
“Your father destroyed my family.”
Nora stared.
“How?”
“He ruined Robert.”
Nora knew the old investment conflict.
Kristina told a different version.
Robert Finch had invested in a major commercial-development project.
William Preston discovered fraudulent financing inside the deal.
He reported it.
Investors withdrew.
Robert lost millions.
But Robert had been involved in the fraud.
Kristina called it betrayal.
Nora called it consequences.
Kristina’s bitterness survived decades.
“We lost our house.”
“You bought another.”
“We lost our standing.”
“You rebuilt.”
“Robert never recovered.”
“So you blamed my father.”
“Yes.”
“And then targeted me?”
Kristina smiled.
“You were his weakness.”
Nora felt cold.
There it was.
Revenge.
Money came later.
At first Nora herself was leverage against William.
Michael’s death isolated her emotionally.
Edgar’s introduction gave Kristina access.
Nora whispered.
“You built my marriage to punish my father.”
“Yes.”
The admission shocked even Kristina’s attorney.
Nora remained calm.
“Did Edgar know that?”
“No.”
The answer came instantly.
Nora believed it.
Edgar knew financial motives.
Maybe not the revenge origin.
Kristina continued.
“I told him you were perfect.”
“Ambitious.”
“Lonely.”
“Loyal.”
“You would cling to anyone who made you feel chosen.”
Nora felt the insult.
Because once, it might have been true.
She had lost Michael.
Lost her brother years earlier.
Her mother died young.
William was emotionally reserved.
Edgar arrived warm.
Patient.
Attentive.
May you like
Nora loved him.
Kristina had weaponized loneliness.
