Chapter 18 - Celeste Chooses a Side
Elaine Porter joined by video.
Her statement was devastating.
Victor had brought her a signature page already bearing Edward’s name.
He told her Edward had signed it earlier but needed emergency notarization.
Elaine refused.
Victor then threatened to report an old payroll mistake that could jeopardize her retirement settlement.
Afraid, she notarized the signature without Edward appearing.
“I’ve regretted it every day,” she said.
Rachel asked, “Did you ever confirm the signature was Edward’s?”
“No.”
“Did Victor tell you what the document was?”
“A trust protection.”
Victor’s attorney terminated the discussion.
The board recessed again.
This time the corporate monitor announced no asset sale would proceed until the codicil’s validity could be determined.
Victor had lost the vote.
But not the war.
By afternoon he had disappeared from the estate offices.
His corporate laptop was gone.
Two external backup drives were missing from finance.
Rachel called law enforcement.
Because Victor’s authority had been suspended and the equipment belonged to Bennett Bloodstock, the removal was no longer merely internal.
Detectives arrived.
Celeste stood in the courtyard as the first police car passed the white gates.
“I did this,” she whispered.
Maya stood beside her.
“Yes.”
Celeste flinched.
“You could have lied.”
“Would you have believed me?”
“No.”
They watched investigators enter the finance building.
Maya turned.
“Why did you hate me before I did anything to you?”
Celeste looked toward Orion’s barn.
“Because you belonged here without trying.”
“That wasn’t my fault.”
“I know.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
Celeste’s voice softened.
“I came here at thirty-two with three suitcases and more debt than Edward knew about. I learned the table settings. The donors. The breeding families. The charity names. I copied your mother’s handwriting on Christmas cards because people told me hers had been elegant.”
Maya stared.
Celeste laughed bitterly.
“Imagine living in a house where a dead woman is better at being alive than you are.”
“My mother wasn’t competing with you.”
“I was competing with her.”
“And with me.”
“Yes.”
The answer came without defense.
“Victor noticed. He told me Edward would always choose his blood over me.”
“So he gave you Asterion.”
“He gave me the feeling of owning something Edward couldn’t take back.”
Maya looked at her.
“Except Victor owned the trust.”
Celeste nodded.
“I know.”
Her phone vibrated.
She glanced at it and went pale.
Victor.
North finance building. Come alone. Bring the trust access token.
Maya read the message.
“He’s still here?”
“Apparently.”
Rachel told Celeste not to go.
Celeste went anyway.
Maya followed at a distance with Rachel and a detective.
The north finance building was mostly empty.
Inside, Victor stood beside the server cabinet.
A hard drive sat on the desk.
“Close the door,” he told Celeste.
She did not.
“You brought them.”
“Yes.”
Victor looked at Maya.
“I underestimated your talent for converting damaged people into witnesses.”
Maya said, “You underestimated how badly you treated them.”
He laughed.
“Celeste, give me the token.”
“No.”
“It unlocks the trust account.”
“I know.”
“We can still move enough money to protect ourselves.”
Celeste stared.
“Ourselves?”
“Yes.”
“You moved five million I never knew existed.”
“For us.”
“You bought companies in your name.”
“To protect us.”
“You tried to make me responsible for Orion.”
“To protect us.”
Each repetition sounded emptier.
Celeste removed a small security token from her pocket.
Victor held out his hand.
Maya’s muscles tightened.
Celeste looked at the object.
Then dropped it.
Her heel came down.
Plastic cracked.
Victor’s face transformed.
“You stupid—”
He stepped forward.
The detective entered.
“Don’t.”
Victor froze.
There was no dramatic chase.
No gun.
No convenient confession.
Only a wealthy man in an expensive suit standing beside a corporate server he no longer had authority to access.
Investigators secured the equipment.
Victor was escorted outside for questioning while counsel was contacted.
As he passed Maya, he whispered, “Your father created me.”
Maya replied, “No. He gave you an opportunity.”
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
“You chose the rest.”
That night, forensic technicians recovered deleted messages from the server backup Victor had failed to erase.
One conversation between Victor and Celeste was especially important.
Victor: Reed signed the stack. Use his sample release.
Celeste: And Maya?
Victor: The bank transfer handles Maya. Edward will do the rest.
Celeste had replied:
Don’t hurt her. Just get her out.
It did not absolve her.
But it defined the conspiracy.
Maya stared at the screen.
Three years earlier, Celeste had not wanted Maya dead.
Not ruined forever.
Only removed.
As if taking someone’s name, father, home and reputation for a little while was somehow a smaller sin.
Rachel closed the laptop.
“We have enough now.”
“For what?”
“To stop the conspiracy.”
Maya looked through the window toward Orion’s barn.
“And the estate?”
May you like
Rachel did not answer immediately.
“Saving that will be harder.”
