Chapter 4 – Nathan’s Counterattack
Nathan was released pending trial after surrendering his passport and agreeing to electronic monitoring.
Within an hour, he launched his counterattack.
His attorneys distributed a statement portraying him as the victim of an elaborate corporate takeover.
According to Nathan, my father had manipulated our marriage, secretly financed Ashford Global, and encouraged me to collect private information in order to seize control of the company.
He described me as emotionally unstable.
He claimed the scene at Blackthorn Manor had been a “marital dispute” deliberately misrepresented by my family.
He denied misusing company funds.
He denied maintaining a relationship with Celeste.
He denied everything.
By evening, television commentators were debating whether I had staged the entire event.
Nathan gave an interview from his attorney’s office.
He wore a dark suit, a pale blue tie, and the expression of a wounded husband.
“My wife needs help,” he told the camera. “I love her, but she has been influenced by people who care more about money than our marriage.”
I watched from the hospital.
My father reached for the remote.
“Leave it.”
“You don’t need to hear this.”
“Yes, I do.”
Nathan continued.
“Evelyn has always struggled with jealousy and paranoia. Ms. Monroe was a respected colleague. Any suggestion of an affair is completely false.”
That was when the interviewer asked about the financial transfers.
Nathan blamed unauthorized employees.
He blamed flawed controls.
He blamed Celeste.
For the first time, he separated himself from her publicly.
I almost felt sorry for her.
Almost.
The interview ended with Nathan staring directly into the camera.
“Evelyn, wherever you are, come home. We can fix this privately.”
I switched off the television.
“He thinks he can still control me,” I said.
Dad stood by the window.
“He is not speaking to you.”
“No. He’s speaking to the public.”
“He’s speaking to the version of himself he is trying to preserve.”
My phone buzzed.
An unknown number had sent a message.
You think your father can protect you forever?
A second message arrived.
Withdraw your accusations or everything you care about will burn.
Dad read the screen.
“I’ll have security trace it.”
Another message appeared.
This one contained a photograph.
My childhood home.
Not the mansion where Dad lived now.
The small brick house where he had raised me after my mother died.
The image had been taken from across the street less than an hour earlier.
I felt the air leave my lungs.
Dad’s expression became cold.
“Nathan knows what that house means to me.”
“He may not have sent it.”
“Celeste?”
“Possibly.”
A fourth message arrived.
The old house has weak wiring. Tragic accidents happen.
Dad called his security director.
Within minutes, officers surrounded the property.
They found a man sitting in a rented vehicle two blocks away with a camera, gasoline containers, and a prepaid phone.
He was arrested before sunset.
The man had received payment through a company connected to Celeste’s personal assistant.
The threat changed the case.
Prosecutors argued that Nathan and Celeste posed an ongoing danger to witnesses.
Celeste was denied release.
Nathan was ordered back to court the following morning.
But before the hearing, something unexpected happened.
Celeste requested a meeting with federal investigators.
She wanted a deal.
“She’s going to turn on him,” I said.
Margaret Sloan sat beside my hospital bed, reviewing the prosecutor’s notice.
“She intends to.”
“What can she offer?”
“Evidence that Nathan ordered the destruction of financial records. Evidence that he paid employees to falsify audits. And evidence connected to your fall six months ago.”
My eyes lifted from the paper.
“What evidence?”
“According to her attorney, the staircase incident was not spontaneous.”
A chill moved through me.
“Nathan planned it?”
“We don’t know yet.”
I remembered standing at the top of the marble stairs.
Nathan’s hand against my back.
Celeste watching from below.
The flowers he sent to the hospital afterward.
The sympathy he performed for visitors.
“What does Celeste want?”
“A reduced sentence and witness protection.”
“Will she get it?”
“That depends on whether she tells the complete truth.”
I looked at Margaret.
“Celeste doesn’t know how to tell the complete truth.”
“Then she’ll have to learn quickly.”
The next morning, Celeste entered a sealed interview room wearing a gray detention uniform.
She asked for water.
She asked for her attorney.
Then she asked whether Nathan had blamed everything on her during his television interview.
The investigator did not answer.
He simply placed a tablet on the table and played the clip.
Celeste watched Nathan call her a colleague.
She watched him deny their relationship.
She watched him suggest that unauthorized employees were responsible for the missing money.
When the screen went dark, something inside her changed.
“He promised we would leave together,” she whispered.
The investigator opened a recorder.
“Start at the beginning.”
Celeste looked directly into the camera.
“Nathan Ashford never loved his wife.”
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Then she leaned forward.
“He married Evelyn because he believed she was connected to money he could eventually control.”
