Chapter 14 - Ashwood
Ryan did not go alone.
He told Celeste he would.
Rebecca coordinated with state police.
Grace stayed with Emma at the hotel under guard.
At midnight, Ryan drove to Ashwood Lodge wearing a recording device.
Police waited two miles away.
The lodge stood dark among pine trees.
Ryan entered through the front.
“Celeste?”
A lamp switched on.
She sat beside the stone hearth.
For the first time in his life, his sister looked old.
No makeup.
Hair tied back.
A bruise around one wrist.
“You brought police.”
Ryan stopped.
“How do you know?”
“Because you finally learned.”
She gave a tired smile.
“Claire would be proud.”
“Don’t say her name like you loved her.”
Celeste’s expression changed.
“I did love her.”
“You imprisoned her.”
“I panicked.”
“For twenty-eight days?”
“I thought we could fix it.”
Ryan stared.
“Fix declaring my wife dead?”
“Martin said the crash gave us time.”
“To do what?”
“To stabilize Mercer. Reverse the Bellamy transfers. Make Claire whole.”
“You stole seven million.”
Celeste looked away.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because after twenty years of saving a company you controlled, I wanted something no one could vote away from me.”
“That’s your explanation?”
“No. It’s the ugliest truth.”
Ryan stepped closer.
“Did you order Wade Kern to force Claire’s car off the road?”
Celeste’s eyes filled.
“I told him to scare her.”
Ryan nearly lunged.
He stopped himself.
“She could have died.”
“She wasn’t supposed to.”
“Alice Renner did.”
Celeste shut her eyes.
“I know.”
“You killed her.”
“I created the circumstances.”
“You always find cleaner language.”
Celeste flinched.
Ryan continued.
“Then Claire survived.”
“Martin found out before I did. Keene called him.”
“And you put Claire in Saint Arden.”
“I thought if she signed a ratification, we could unwind everything privately.”
“She refused.”
“Yes.”
“So you drugged her.”
“Keene did.”
“At your instruction.”
Celeste began crying.
Ryan felt nothing.
“What happened June twenty-nine?”
“She couldn’t breathe.”
“You stopped an ambulance.”
“Martin stopped it.”
“And you stayed.”
“I was terrified.”
“Claire was dying.”
“I know!”
Celeste stood.
“She looked at me and asked me to call you. Martin said if I did, we would both go to prison and Mercer would collapse.”
Ryan’s voice became quiet.
“So you chose the company.”
Celeste stared at him.
“I chose myself.”
At last.
No excuses.
Ryan’s eyes burned.
“Where is the server?”
Celeste pointed upstairs.
“Old conference office. Hidden behind the projection wall.”
“Why give it to me now?”
“Martin tried to have me killed yesterday.”
She showed the bruise.
“Wade grabbed me outside the company garage.”
“Why?”
“Because I told Martin I was done.”
“You’re never done. You just change sides when you lose.”
“Yes.”
Ryan appreciated the absence of denial more than he wanted to.
Celeste continued.
“The server contains Martin’s off-book legal accounts going back fifteen years. Peter found the first part.”
“And Claire?”
“She found the new Bellamy transfers.”
“You let me think Daniel was the villain for twelve years.”
“Daniel betrayed me too.”
“With an affair.”
“Yes.”
“That wasn’t permission to bury everything else.”
“No.”
Ryan walked toward the stairs.
Celeste said, “Ryan.”
He stopped.
“I hated Claire because she saw me clearly.”
Ryan did not turn.
“She saw you too.”
That did make him turn.
Celeste’s voice softened.
“She told me the worst thing about you wasn’t anger.”
“What was it?”
“Certainty.”
He remembered Grace’s cheek.
Emma’s face.
Claire begging him to look at evidence.
Celeste said, “You were certain I was loyal. Certain Claire was emotional. Certain Martin was honorable.”
Ryan nodded slowly.
“And you used that.”
“Yes.”
A sound came from upstairs.
Both froze.
Celeste whispered, “You said police were outside.”
“They are.”
“Not inside.”
Ryan reached for his phone.
The lights went out.
A gunshot shattered the front window.
Celeste dropped.
Ryan pulled her behind the stone fireplace.
Another shot struck the wall.
“Wade,” Celeste whispered.
Ryan called Rebecca.
No signal.
Celeste pointed toward a service corridor.
“There’s a cellar exit.”
“What about the server?”
“If Martin sent Wade, that’s what he came for.”
Ryan looked toward the stairs.
Then at his sister.
For years he had chosen company over family without admitting it.
Tonight the server could expose everything.
Celeste was bleeding from glass cuts, terrified.
“Go,” she whispered. “Get the server.”
Ryan grabbed her arm.
“No.”
“What?”
“I’m not leaving you.”
Her face broke.
They moved toward the cellar.
Upstairs, footsteps crossed the floor.
A man shouted, “Celeste!”
Wade Kern.
Ryan pushed Celeste down the cellar stairs.
Then another voice sounded through the dark lodge.
May you like
Martin Vale.
“Ryan, you should have stayed in Chicago.”
