Chapter 9 - Celeste’s Bargain
Police found Celeste alive in the underground garage of her apartment building.
Someone had rammed her car against a concrete pillar as she tried to leave.
She suffered a fractured wrist and facial cuts, but the attack accomplished what nothing else had.
Celeste stopped protecting Richard.
David met her at the hospital with Detective Shah.
Maya came because Celeste specifically asked for her.
When Maya entered, Celeste could barely look at her.
“I’m sorry about Gabriel.”
Maya remained near the door.
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“You said you had his evidence.”
“I did.”
“Where?”
Celeste swallowed.
“Richard took it.”
Maya’s jaw tightened.
“Start at the beginning.”
Celeste described Northstar.
Six years earlier, during the Halcyon acquisition, Charles Bennett had quietly needed cash for payments that could not appear in normal corporate accounts.
Celeste created shell vendors.
“At first it was political influence,” she said. “Consultants. Union people. Expediting permits.”
“Bribes,” Shah said.
Celeste nodded.
“Some.”
“And the rest?” David asked.
“I skimmed money.”
“How much?”
“Three-point-eight million over four years.”
David stared at her.
“Why?”
She laughed bitterly.
“Because Richard had gambling debts.”
Maya’s eyes narrowed.
“You stole for him.”
“At first.”
“What happened later?”
“He learned how useful secret money could be.”
Richard began diverting Northstar funds into private surveillance and influence operations. He gathered compromising information on board members, employees and local officials.
Blackmail.
Insurance.
Power.
Gabriel found discrepancies while reconciling vendor files.
“He came to me,” Celeste said. “He thought I was being forced.”
“Were you?” Maya asked.
“By then, yes.”
Gabriel offered to help Celeste expose Richard.
Instead, Celeste panicked and told her father.
Charles arranged a meeting at South Property.
“I thought Father would pay Gabriel to leave.”
Maya’s voice shook.
“You thought he could buy my brother.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“Gabriel refused.”
“And?”
Celeste looked at David.
“Father ordered Marrow Security to detain him until Richard recovered the documents.”
David felt sick.
“You imprisoned an employee?”
“I wasn’t there.”
“You knew.”
“Later.”
Maya stepped forward.
“How long was he held?”
“Two days.”
“Then where did he go?”
Celeste started crying.
“I don’t know.”
Maya slammed her palm against the wall.
“Stop saying that!”
A nurse looked in.
Shah closed the door.
Celeste continued.
“Elena discovered Gabriel’s disappearance because she found his unreconciled procurement report. She started investigating. Richard realized she was getting close.”
“So he framed her through Northstar,” David said.
“Yes.”
“And Father believed it.”
“Father believed what kept the company safe.”
David looked away.
That sentence described Charles perfectly.
Elena confronted Charles.
Then Richard.
Then Detective Cole.
“She threatened to go to the FBI.”
“What stopped her?” Maya asked.
Celeste looked at David.
“You.”
David went cold.
“What?”
“Richard told her you knew everything.”
“He lied.”
“He showed her your signed approvals. Your login records. He played recordings of you defending Father.”
David remembered those conversations.
Richard had provoked him into complaining that Elena’s investigation was “destroying the family.”
Edited properly, the words would sound threatening.
“She believed I was involved.”
“For a while.”
“What changed?”
“Noah.”
David frowned.
Celeste explained that Elena secretly returned to see Noah on Christmas because she had discovered evidence proving David’s executive credentials were used while he was physically out of state.
“She realized you were framed too.”
David shut his eyes.
“Then why didn’t she come to me?”
“Because she didn’t know whether you would protect her or the company.”
That hurt because it was believable.
Maya asked, “Where was Elena living?”
“Different places. Richard tracked her twice.”
“You were helping her?”
Celeste shook her head.
“Sometimes I helped Elena. Sometimes I helped Richard. Mostly I helped myself.”
At least that was honest.
Celeste had become trapped between everyone because everyone possessed evidence against her.
Elena had proof of the fraud.
Richard had proof Celeste created Northstar.
Charles had threatened to disinherit her.
After Charles died, Richard threatened to expose everything unless Celeste supported him in reshaping control of the company.
David asked, “What does Richard want?”
“Your shares.”
“He can’t take them.”
“He can if Father’s trust is invalidated.”
David frowned.
Celeste looked at Detective Shah.
“Richard has the unsigned restructuring draft Elena was supposed to control. He also has evidence Father lacked capacity when he executed the final trust.”
David stared.
“Dad had early dementia?”
“Vascular cognitive impairment. Mild at first.”
“Why wasn’t I told?”
“Because Father hid it.”
Richard had allegedly arranged private medical evaluations.
If he proved Charles lacked testamentary capacity when signing the trust that gave David control, litigation could freeze voting rights for years.
During that chaos, the board would control operations.
And Richard controlled several directors through blackmail.
Money was only part of his motive.
He wanted Bennett Hospitality itself.
Maya said, “What does this have to do with Gabriel?”
Celeste looked at her.
“Gabriel copied Richard’s blackmail files.”
Maya went still.
“That’s why Richard couldn’t let him go.”
“Yes.”
“Where are those files?”
Celeste whispered, “Elena has them.”
David leaned forward.
“You know where she is.”
Celeste looked at him.
“I know where she was supposed to be tonight.”
Shah immediately asked for the location.
Celeste gave an address.
A small furnished apartment in Queens rented under a nonprofit housing company.
Police moved.
David was ordered to stay away.
This time he listened.
Two hours later, Shah called.
The apartment was empty.
But there were signs Elena had left suddenly.
A laptop charger remained plugged in.
Coffee still sat in the machine.
One shoe lay beside the bed.
And on the kitchen table, investigators found a photograph of Noah.
Written on the back:
IF DAVID FINALLY BELIEVES HIM, GIVE HIM THE SECOND KEY.
David looked at Noah’s brass key.
“Second key?”
Shah sent a photograph of what else had been on the table.
A small brass key.
May you like
Stamped with one number.
Elena had hidden something else in the hotel suite.
