Chapter 17 - The Fire
Celeste threw the first page into the flames.
Mara grabbed her wrist.
“Stop!”
“Get off me!”
The folder hit the floor.
Papers scattered.
Celeste shoved Mara hard enough to send her into the edge of a chair.
Pain shot through Mara’s hip.
She recovered.
Celeste reached for another page.
Mara kicked the folder away.
“You’ve destroyed enough.”
Celeste’s face had transformed.
The elegant matriarch was gone.
“You stupid girl.”
Mara almost laughed.
“Still calling me a girl?”
“You think one recording makes you strong?”
“No.”
Mara looked toward the front windows.
“Knowing you’re afraid does.”
Celeste froze.
Outside, headlights swept across the drive.
She understood immediately.
“You brought police.”
“I brought witnesses.”
Celeste slapped Mara.
The sound cracked through the room.
Mara stumbled.
Then the front door burst open.
“Police! Step away!”
Reed entered with two officers.
Celeste backed toward the fireplace.
“You set me up.”
Mara touched her cheek.
“No.”
Her voice shook, but she held Celeste’s gaze.
“I gave you a room to tell the truth.”
Celeste looked toward the scattered papers.
One page had partially burned.
Reed moved between the women.
“Mrs. Whitmore, do not touch anything.”
Celeste laughed.
“You think this ends because I admitted I gave a tired woman medicine?”
Reed said, “You also admitted staging child neglect to influence a custody proceeding.”
Celeste’s smile vanished.
“And placing a six-month-old outside in freezing rain.”
“My attorney will—”
“Your attorney can meet you downtown.”
Then another voice came from the doorway.
“Mom.”
Adrian stood there.
Mara turned sharply.
“You weren’t supposed to come.”
“I know.”
Celeste stared at her son.
For one second, Mara saw something almost childlike in her face.
Relief.
“Adrian.”
He stepped inside.
Celeste held out her hands.
“She tricked me.”
Adrian looked at Mara’s reddening cheek.
“No.”
“She provoked me.”
“No.”
“She has been poisoning you against me since the day you met her.”
Adrian’s expression remained still.
“No, Mom.”
Celeste’s voice rose.
“I protected you!”
“You protected yourself.”
“I saved your company.”
“You stole from it.”
“I saved it after your father nearly destroyed us.”
“You took six million dollars.”
“It was temporary.”
“You forged documents.”
“Malcolm did.”
“You framed my wife.”
Celeste’s eyes flashed.
“She was going to expose everything.”
“Yes.”
“And you would have lost the company.”
“Then I should have lost it.”
Silence.
Mara looked at him.
Adrian’s eyes were wet.
“I should have lost everything before letting you do what you did.”
Celeste whispered, “You don’t mean that.”
“I do.”
“I’m your mother.”
“And Ivy is my daughter.”
Celeste’s face collapsed.
Then hardened again.
“You knew.”
Adrian went still.
Mara’s heart tightened.
“Knew what?”
Celeste smiled bitterly.
“You knew Henry suspected money was missing.”
“I told them that.”
“You knew more.”
Adrian’s face changed.
“Stop.”
“You want truth? Give her truth.”
Mara looked at him.
“What is she talking about?”
Adrian closed his eyes.
Celeste said, “The night Henry died, Adrian didn’t just destroy a box.”
“Mom.”
“He destroyed the preliminary report identifying me.”
Mara felt cold.
Adrian whispered, “I told you I destroyed papers.”
“You said you thought they were drafts.”
“I did.”
Celeste laughed.
“Liar.”
Adrian turned on her.
“You told me Dad had become paranoid.”
“And you believed me because you wanted to.”
That was the cruelest truth Celeste had spoken all night.
Adrian looked at Mara.
“I saw her name.”
Mara’s stomach dropped.
“On what?”
“The report.”
“You knew Celeste was named?”
“Yes.”
“And you destroyed it.”
“I thought Dad was wrong.”
“Because she told you?”
“Yes.”
Mara stepped back.
Adrian continued desperately.
“I found another copy later. That’s when I knew something was real.”
“When?”
“Before Ivy was born.”
Mara stared at him.
“You knew before she was born.”
“I knew there might be financial misconduct.”
“And you never told me.”
“I was afraid.”
Mara laughed through sudden tears.
“There’s that word again.”
Celeste watched them with terrible satisfaction.
Even in handcuffs, she had found a way to hurt them.
Reed bent to gather the scattered documents.
Then stopped.
One page was a handwritten letter from Henry.
He read the first line silently.
His expression changed.
“What?” Mara asked.
Reed handed it to her.
Henry had written it to Adrian.
Near the bottom, one sentence was underlined.
If you destroy evidence to protect your mother, you become part of what she has done.
Adrian stared at the words.
May you like
His father had warned him.
And Adrian had done it anyway.
