Chapter 4 - CELESTE MAKES HER FIRST MOVE

Celeste requested an attorney before federal agents asked their first question.

She chose Conrad Price.

That name worried my father.

Conrad was not a normal defense attorney.

He was a crisis specialist hired by executives, politicians, and foreign families who needed problems to disappear.

He arrived at Blackthorn Manor before noon.

An hour later, Celeste offered a deal.

Rebecca returned to the hospital carrying a recording of the interview.

Celeste appeared perfectly composed on the screen.

She wore a gray sweater provided by investigators.

Her hair had been tied back.

Without the champagne and designer dress, she looked younger.

She also looked more dangerous.

“Nathan Ashford directed every illegal transfer,” she said.

“I followed his instructions because he threatened me.”

Rebecca paused the video.

“She is presenting herself as a victim.”

“She watched what happened to me,” I said.

“She corrected Nathan’s count.”

“I know.”

Rebecca started the recording again.

Celeste folded her hands on the table.

“Amelia Ashford was deeply disturbed.”

“She often became jealous and aggressive.”

“She attacked me several times.”

My father reached for the control.

I stopped him.

“I need to hear all of it.”

Celeste looked directly toward the interview camera.

On some level, she knew I would watch.

“Nathan told me Amelia had inherited unstable behavior from her mother.”

My father froze.

My mother had died in a boating accident when I was thirteen.

No one outside the family knew the details.

The official report said a sudden storm overturned the vessel.

My father never accepted that explanation.

Celeste continued.

“Nathan feared Amelia might harm herself or someone else.”

“He was trying to control a dangerous situation.”

Rebecca paused the video again.

“She is using the forged psychiatric records.”

“Where did those records come from?”

“We traced the digital signature to a clinic in Switzerland.”

My father stood so quickly that the chair struck the wall.

“What clinic?”

“Linden House.”

He turned toward the window.

I had heard the name before.

My mother had visited Linden House during the final year of her life.

Not as a patient.

As an investigator.

She had discovered that Victor Lang was using private clinics to move money through charitable foundations.

“Celeste wants us to connect her to my mother,” I said.

My father looked at me.

“She wants a reaction.”

“She already has one.”

Rebecca resumed the recording.

Conrad Price leaned toward his client.

Celeste smiled faintly.

“I can provide evidence that Elias Vale used his financial network to manipulate government contracts.”

My father showed no surprise.

Celeste continued.

“I can also prove that Amelia knew about illegal activity inside Ashford Global and remained silent because she expected to inherit the company.”

“That is her defense,” Rebecca said.

“She intends to claim you were part of the conspiracy.”

I had anticipated Nathan’s lies.

I had not anticipated Celeste attacking my father through my mother’s death.

“What does she want?”

“Immunity from financial prosecution.”

“Protection from Nathan.”

“A new identity.”

My father laughed once.

There was no humor in it.

“She believes she can threaten me into protecting her.”

Rebecca closed the video.

“She claims Project Meridian contains information capable of destroying Vale Dominion.”

My father looked toward the evidence bag containing my pendant.

“Did she provide proof?”

“One access code.”

Rebecca placed a printed page in front of us.

The code opened a single document recovered from Nathan’s hidden room.

It contained a list of cargo ships.

Dates.

Ports.

Payments.

At the bottom of the page appeared my mother’s name.

Lillian Vale.

Beside it were the words TERMINAL LIABILITY.

My stomach tightened.

“What does that mean?”

My father did not answer.

“Dad.”

He sat beside me.

“Your mother discovered Victor’s operation.”

“She intended to expose him.”

“Three days before she died, she told me she had placed the evidence somewhere only she could access.”

“Did you find it?”

“No.”

I looked at the list again.

“Celeste believes I know where it is.”

“She may believe your mother left the key to you.”

I remembered the weeks before the accident.

My mother had become distant.

She checked locks twice.

She changed our travel routes.

One night, she entered my bedroom and gave me a small silver music box.

I still owned it.

It sat inside a storage vault in Connecticut.

My mother had told me never to throw it away.

Not because it was expensive.

Because one day, she said, the song might help me remember who I was.

I looked at my father.

“There may be a key.”

Rebecca leaned forward.

“Where?”

I did not answer immediately.

Celeste had spent years searching for something my mother left behind.

If I retrieved it, she would know.

If I ignored it, Project Meridian might remain buried.

“My mother gave me a music box.”

My father’s eyes widened.

“I thought it was lost.”

“I hid it after the funeral.”

Rebecca stood.

“We need to secure it.”

“No.”

Both of them looked at me.

“If Celeste wants the box, we can use it to force her next move.”

My father shook his head.

“You are not bait.”

“I already was.”

May you like

The housekeeper was supposed to be invisible. Instead, Sophia Hale becam...

Victoria: You will never get a single cent of this family inheritance! M...

The billionaire father was told his son had died. Then the maid smashed...

I met his gaze.

“The difference is that this time, we know the trap exists.”