Chapter 8 - Gavin Was Blackmailing His Own Sister
Not with dramatic:
recordings.
With knowledge.
Gavin’s businesses were failing again.
He had tax liabilities.
Personal guarantees.
Debt.
Then my engagement to Rebecca became:
public.
He saw:
leverage.
Messages from six months earlier:
Gavin:
You’re about to marry into exactly what we protected. Don’t pretend I did this alone.
Rebecca:
Do not contact Daniel.
Gavin:
Then help me fix Ridge.
She sent:
$40,000.
Then another:
$35,000.
Personal funds.
Then he wanted:
more.
During Aspen weekend, he came to Colorado because Rebecca told him the payments were:
stopping.
Their late-night meeting turned:
ugly.
Gavin said he would tell me everything.
Rebecca told him:
“If you tell Daniel we sent that message, Emily’s crash stops looking accidental.”
That was the phrase:
Chloe heard.
Not:
“we made the crash look accidental.”
Subtle.
Important.
Still devastating.
Then:
“If they connect the burner to us, we lose everything.”
Gavin:
“Then pay me what you owe.”
Rebecca:
“I don’t owe you for your own stupidity.”
Chloe heard only:
pieces.
Enough.
That distinction later mattered to:
prosecutors.
The theory became:
fraud,
obstruction,
evidence destruction,
false statements,
possibly reckless conduct contributing to Emily’s death.
Whether criminal homicide charges fit depended on:
intent,
causation,
state law,
foreseeability.
Not my decision.
Then Gavin did what desperate accomplices often:
do.
He hired his own:
lawyer.
Approached authorities through:
counsel.
Not because conscience suddenly:
won.
Because he wanted:
protection.
He admitted buying:
the burner phone.
Sending the fake Chloe message at Rebecca’s:
direction.
Deleting:
it afterward.
Helping hide the Northstar conflict.
He claimed Rebecca invented:
the plan.
Rebecca claimed Gavin did.
Predictable.
Then Gavin produced:
financial records
and:
emails.
No secret murder tape.
Documents.
One key message from Rebecca:
I need Emily off Monday. Use something she cannot ignore.
Gavin:
Chloe.
Rebecca:
Nothing that hurts her. Just get Emily moving.
That sentence became:
central.
Rebecca had not intended physical harm to:
Chloe.
She intended deception involving:
Chloe.
Then Gavin:
Weather is turning.
Rebecca:
Then she’ll turn back.
Maybe she genuinely expected:
that.
Then after the crash:
Gavin:
Jesus Christ.
Rebecca:
Delete everything.
There.
Cover-up.
Then:
If this ever comes out, Daniel will think we killed her.
That line cut through me.
Rebecca knew, immediately, what the facts would:
look like.
Then she chose not to tell:
me.
Not that night.
Not after funeral.
Not a year later.
Not before dating:
me.
Not before accepting my marriage:
proposal.
Instead she let me believe Emily died because of:
weather.
Then used Emily’s “instability” to explain:
why.
Then Gavin gave investigators one more lead.
After the crash, Rebecca went to our Denver home before I returned from New York.
Official reason:
support Chloe and staff.
Real additional reason?
Emily’s home office.
Rebecca searched:
it.
She found Northstar documents.
Removed:
some.
Not all.
What else did she take?
Gavin remembered:
“a red folder.”
No red folder existed in the cedar:
box.
Then Sarah told me Emily had used one.
Label:
BENEFICIARY / CHLOE
Not about Northstar.
About:
Chloe’s inheritance.
And suddenly we had a second reason Rebecca had searched Emily’s papers after:
May you like
her death.
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