Chapter 9 - Catherine confronted Michael, and he failed her once more
Catherine told Michael the truth in stages, hoping facts would reach him before fear did.
She first mentioned the missing paperwork and the early-morning intrusion into her room. Michael looked troubled but not convinced.
Then she showed him a new copy of the hospital report confirming the non-prescribed sedative. He grew paler.
Then she asked him whether he personally approved certain expense codes linked to the shell LLC. He said no.
Only when Alan joined them on a conference call and explained the reimbursement pattern did Michael finally stop defending Serena reflexively.
He sat on the edge of the study sofa, elbows on his knees, face drawn.
“You think Serena drugged you because you found this?”
“I think Serena had both motive and access,” Catherine said. “And I think you are still looking for a less painful explanation than the true one.”
Michael stared at the floor.
“That’s my wife.”
“And I’m your mother.”
He looked up then, raw and tired. “Do you know how insane this sounds?”
“Yes,” Catherine said. “Which is why I waited until it sounded even more insane not to believe it.”
He asked for time.
Catherine hated that answer instantly.
Time had already been Serena’s greatest ally. Time to rewrite, to delete, to charm, to move money, to erase trails and recast herself as a misunderstood wife under attack from an aging matriarch.
Still, Michael was not a bad man. He was a delayed one.
Catherine gave him twenty-four hours.
That night he confronted Serena privately.
She cried.
Denied everything.
Called Catherine paranoid.
Admitted only to entering Catherine’s room “to clean up upsetting paperwork.”
Then she shifted tactics and attacked where Michael was weakest.
“She has always wanted you to choose her over me.”
Michael later confessed that he did not believe her fully, but he also did not press hard enough. He ended the conversation without taking her phone, without freezing financial access, and without telling Catherine the confrontation had gone nowhere.
The next afternoon, Serena walked into the wine lounge where Catherine was reviewing printed board records.
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And the scene from PART 1 began.
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