Chapter 17 - Under the Glass
Police were already moving toward Rosecliff when Edward arrived.
He ignored Naomi’s order to stay behind the gate.
The greenhouse doors were open.
Inside, Celeste stood beneath the repaired section of roof.
Maria was beside Sophie.
One security guard lay conscious but bleeding near the entrance.
Celeste held no gun.
Only a brass key.
The duplicate.
Sophie clutched the porcelain rabbit against her chest.
Edward stopped at the doorway.
“Celeste.”
She turned.
Rain tapped against the glass above.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“This is my home.”
“No.”
Her eyes were wild.
“This was always Anna’s home.”
Maria kept one arm around Sophie.
Celeste pointed at her.
“Get away from her.”
Maria did not move.
“You planted jewelry in my room.”
“You stole Anna from me years before I planted anything.”
Edward stepped closer.
“Let Sophie leave.”
Celeste laughed.
“I’m not hurting Sophie.”
Sophie began crying.
“You already did!”
The words struck Celeste.
She looked at the child.
“I never wanted that panel to hit you.”
“You made it fall!”
“I knew where it would land.”
“But I was there!”
Celeste’s mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Sophie held the rabbit tighter.
“You said Mommy wanted me gone.”
Celeste looked away.
“That was wrong.”
“Why did you say it?”
“Because—”
She stopped.
Edward answered.
“Because she wanted you afraid of your mother’s things.”
Celeste looked at him.
“You think you finally understand me.”
“No.”
Edward’s voice shook.
“I finally understand I don’t have to.”
Police quietly entered through the east corridor.
Celeste saw them.
She moved toward the old flower table.
On it sat a metal case.
The backup server.
Edward stared.
“You brought it here.”
“I was going to destroy it.”
“Why here?”
Celeste laughed.
“Because Anna loved this place.”
Hatred and grief twisted together in her face.
“I wanted one thing she couldn’t keep.”
She grabbed the server case.
Detective Chen stepped forward.
“Celeste, put it down.”
Celeste backed toward the roof-release pillar.
Her hand found the brass mechanism.
Edward realized what she intended.
“Don’t.”
Celeste inserted the duplicate key.
Chen raised her voice.
“Step away from the mechanism.”
Celeste turned the key.
A roof vent above the flower table unlocked.
Not the panel over Sophie.
But another heavy glass section.
“If I can’t have the company—”
Edward moved.
Maria pulled Sophie beneath the stone arch.
Celeste yanked the lever.
Nothing happened.
She pulled again.
Still nothing.
Edward stopped.
Celeste stared upward.
The mechanism had been disconnected after the first incident.
Independent safety engineers had installed manual blocks.
Edward had learned.
For once, one of his corrections had arrived before the next disaster.
Celeste pulled the lever a third time.
Nothing.
Her face collapsed.
Chen crossed the distance and took the key from her hand.
An officer secured her wrists.
Celeste did not resist.
She stared at Edward.
“You changed it.”
“Yes.”
“You never changed anything for me.”
The sentence carried forty years.
Edward felt it.
He did not let it control him.
“I should have changed many things.”
He stepped closer.
“But this ends here.”
Celeste began to cry.
Not elegantly.
Not strategically.
Like a child.
“You loved her more.”
Edward’s eyes filled.
“I loved you differently.”
“That means yes.”
“Maybe I failed to make you feel loved enough.”
He swallowed.
“But Anna did not steal love from you.”
Celeste looked at Sophie.
“No.”
“You turned your pain into permission.”
She closed her eyes.
Police led her toward the door.
As she passed Sophie, she stopped.
“I’m sorry.”
Sophie pressed herself against Maria.
Celeste waited.
The child said nothing.
Chen guided Celeste onward.
No forgiveness was owed on demand.
Outside, cameras flashed beyond the estate gates.
Federal agents collected the server.
The remaining evidence was intact.
Celeste’s flight.
Her possession of the server.
Her attempt to destroy it.
Her greenhouse confession.
All of it would become part of the case.
Edward walked to Sophie.
She looked up.
“Is it over?”
He wanted to say yes.
Instead he remembered his promise.
“The dangerous part is over.”
“What happens now?”
“Courts. Lawyers. Company things.”
“Boring?”
“Very.”
She nodded.
“Good.”
Maria laughed through tears.
Edward knelt and touched the porcelain rabbit.
“You kept him safe.”
Sophie shook her head.
“He kept Mommy’s secrets.”
Edward looked around the greenhouse.
Broken things had protected them.
A toy rabbit.
A music box.
A damaged note.
A torn scarf.
A family that had finally stopped pretending love excused harm.
Then Detective Chen approached carrying an evidence bag.
Inside was Celeste’s duplicate brass key.
Edward looked at it.
The same kind of key that began everything.
Chen said, “We found something engraved on the back.”
Edward leaned closer.
Two letters.
A.V.
Anna Vale.
Celeste had not made the duplicate.
May you like
Anna had.
And suddenly there was one final secret left.
