Chapter 13 - Celeste’s Choice
Celeste had been lying by omission.
Again.
Shaw confronted her with the photograph.
Celeste stared at it.
“Where did you get this?”
“Who really chose Elena?”
“I don’t know what that means.”
Shaw slid another photograph across the table.
Dane.
Adrian.
The Baltimore hotel.
“Your deal disappears if you keep lying.”
Celeste’s face hardened.
“I never had a deal.”
“You had the possibility of consideration.”
“That’s not a deal.”
“Then consider this your last chance.”
Celeste looked at the wall for a long time.
Finally she said, “Elena was not supposed to be kidnapped.”
“We know the original plan was temporary.”
“No.”
Celeste leaned forward.
“She was supposed to be discredited.”
“How?”
“Adrian wanted her caught moving confidential Northstar files.”
“Caught by whom?”
“The board.”
“Why?”
“So Damian would think she was preparing a divorce and trying to take corporate assets.”
Elena later listened through a recorded interview.
Her face was pale.
Celeste continued.
“I was supposed to be the witness.”
Shaw asked, “And then?”
“Elena found out I was sleeping with Adrian.”
“When?”
“The night she disappeared.”
“Then you changed the plan.”
Celeste’s eyes filled.
“I panicked.”
“You suggested making her disappearance look like an accident.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because if she exposed the affair, Damian would remove Adrian. I’d lose everything.”
“What did you have to lose?”
Celeste laughed bitterly.
“You think I wanted Damian because he was handsome?”
Shaw said nothing.
“My family was bankrupt.”
That was new.
Celeste’s father had built Arden Luxury Resorts.
Publicly, the company had been sold profitably years earlier.
In reality, Celeste revealed, hidden debt and personal guarantees left her family owing nearly $30 million.
Adrian had helped refinance it through Harbor Meridian.
“He owned me,” Celeste said.
“No,” Shaw replied. “Debt is not ownership.”
“You didn’t know Adrian.”
“You still made choices.”
Celeste looked away.
“What happened after Elena discovered the affair?”
“I called Adrian.”
“And?”
“He brought Dane.”
“Margaret?”
“She came later.”
“Who decided Elena could not be released?”
Celeste’s lips trembled.
“Margaret.”
Shaw leaned forward.
“Why?”
“Because Elena had seen the Northstar documents.”
“Did Margaret order her murder?”
“No.”
“Did Adrian?”
“No.”
“Then why eighteen months?”
“Because nobody could agree what to do.”
The answer was monstrous in its banality.
Elena had lost eighteen months because conspirators kept postponing the decision that would restore her freedom.
Celeste continued.
“Adrian wanted signatures. Margaret wanted the Northstar deal completed. Dane wanted more money. I wanted out.”
Shaw asked, “Why did you become engaged to Damian?”
Celeste cried.
“At first, Adrian told me to stay close.”
“And later?”
“I fell in love with him.”
Damian, listening later, said nothing.
Elena watched him.
Celeste’s recorded voice continued.
“I know how that sounds.”
Shaw replied, “It sounds irrelevant to the kidnapping.”
“Yes.”
“Why threaten Lucas?”
Celeste covered her face.
“Because Adrian called me after Lucas mentioned the camera.”
“So you knew the memory card could expose you.”
“Yes.”
“You slapped a six-year-old child twice.”
Celeste started crying harder.
“Yes.”
“You held a heated curling iron near his face.”
“I wasn’t going to burn him.”
“You expect anyone to believe that?”
“I wanted him scared.”
Shaw’s expression remained cold.
“That is not better.”
Celeste gave one final piece.
Victor Dane possessed copies of everything.
“He recorded people.”
“For insurance?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who might?”
Celeste whispered, “Margaret.”
Margaret initially refused to cooperate.
Then prosecutors showed her Celeste’s statement.
Showed her the submarine video.
Showed her the forged Elena consent recovered from the airfield.
Her lawyer requested a break.
Two hours later, Margaret asked for a proffer.
She admitted helping conceal Elena’s kidnapping after the fact.
She claimed Adrian and Dane controlled the physical confinement.
But she identified Dane’s evidence archive.
A storage unit in Newark, New Jersey, rented under a false corporate name.
Agents searched it.
Inside were six banker boxes, three encrypted drives, two handguns, passports, cash, and a portable recorder.
One box was labeled DV.
Damian Vale.
Inside were photographs.
Financial records.
Copies of Damian’s signatures.
Notes about his temper.
His alcohol purchases after Elena disappeared.
His therapy appointments.
Celeste’s private observations.
Adrian had spent eighteen months building a file designed to portray Damian as unstable.
At the bottom was a draft petition.
TEMPORARY REMOVAL OF DAMIAN VALE AS TRUSTEE.
Dated seven months earlier.
Long before Damian struck Celeste aboard the Aurelia.
Elena stared.
“So the assault wasn’t the plan.”
Shaw nodded.
“It was an opportunity.”
“They were already planning to remove him.”
“Yes.”
Damian looked at the file.
“What grounds?”
Shaw handed him the final page.
May you like
The allegation was worse than violence.
Adrian had planned to accuse Damian of causing Elena’s disappearance.
