Chapter 13 - The Arrangement
Odette finally told the truth at three in the morning.
Seven years earlier, Kingsley Hospitality had been drowning in debt hidden behind aggressive expansion.
Celeste’s father controlled an investment fund capable of saving them.
There was one condition.
A permanent alliance between the families.
Felix stared at his mother.
“You sold my future.”
“I secured yours.”
“You removed Sarah.”
“Sarah represented uncertainty.”
“She was pregnant with my child.”
“I did not know that when negotiations began.”
“But you knew before you forced her out.”
Odette said nothing.
Felix laughed bitterly.
“And Celeste?”
“She knew there had been someone before her.”
“Someone.”
He repeated the word.
“That is how you described Sarah?”
Odette’s gaze dropped.
Sarah stood near Lily’s door, listening.
Odette continued.
“Celeste believed you would eventually love her.”
Felix looked toward the hallway where Celeste sat.
“She had seven years to discover otherwise.”
“She became increasingly afraid Sarah would return.”
“So she erased the records.”
Odette nodded.
“She ordered much of it.”
“And you allowed her.”
“Yes.”
The admission seemed to cost Odette something.
Sarah folded her arms.
“Why did she change the school menu?”
“I don’t know.”
“Guess.”
Odette looked at Sarah.
“Celeste learned three days ago that Lily attended St. Catherine’s.”
“How?”
“The restaurant confrontation.”
Sarah remembered.
Customers filming.
Reporters.
Employees whispering.
Lily’s school uniform visible beneath her coat.
Odette continued.
“She also knew the school breakfast was a Kingsley event.”
Felix’s face hardened.
“She had access to Sarah’s old medical disclosures.”
Odette nodded.
The room went silent.
No one needed to finish the thought.
Sarah turned away.
Felix clenched his fists.
Then Odette said something unexpected.
“There is a secure archive beneath Kingsley Tower.”
Felix looked at her.
“Physical?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because your grandfather never trusted digital records.”
“What is inside?”
“Original contracts.”
“Correspondence.”
“Private settlement instructions.”
“Celeste’s family financing agreements.”
“And the original Marlowe development notebooks.”
Sarah turned back.
“My notebooks?”
Odette nodded.
“The originals.”
Sarah’s eyes filled with fury.
“You told me they had been destroyed.”
“I lied.”
Felix looked at his mother.
“Get them.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“After your resignation, Celeste took control of the executive security committee.”
Felix’s face darkened.
“She has access.”
“Yes.”
“And she knows the archive can destroy her.”
Odette nodded.
Felix immediately called his lawyer.
But before the call connected, Odette’s phone buzzed.
She read the message.
Her face changed.
“What?”
Felix demanded.
Odette turned the screen toward him.
A fire alarm had been triggered at Kingsley Tower.
The alert identified smoke in the basement records level.
Sarah whispered, “The archive.”
Felix was already moving.
Celeste had realized the same thing they had.
May you like
And she had gotten there first.
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