Chapter 6 - CELESTE MAKES AN OFFER
Celeste called me that evening.
I almost declined.
Maya motioned for me to answer.
“Put it on speaker.”
Celeste’s voice came through calmly.
“I assume Nathan told you.”
“He told me many things.”
“Not enough.”
“Then help him.”
“I’m not calling for Nathan.”
Of course she wasn’t.
She was calling because alliances were changing.
“Where are you?”
“Somewhere Malcolm doesn’t know about yet.”
“Yet?”
“You still don’t understand him.”
I stood at my apartment window.
“Then explain.”
Celeste laughed softly.
“You think your husband is dangerous because he slapped you.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
“I know exactly what Nathan is.”
“No, Emma.”
Her voice became quieter.
“Nathan is weak.”
That sounded almost crueler.
“Malcolm chooses weak people because weak people can be controlled by giving them something they want.”
“What did he give you?”
Silence.
“Celeste?”
“A future.”
“And what did he ask for?”
“Your mother’s files.”
I closed my eyes.
The blue box.
“Thomas - Private Records.”
“Yes.”
“What was inside?”
“Bank statements.”
“From where?”
“Switzerland.”
Maya began taking notes.
Celeste continued.
“Your father discovered that Carlisle Crown was paying inflated prices for gemstones through shell suppliers.”
“Malcolm?”
“Malcolm and others.”
“Who?”
“I never knew all of them.”
“Then why steal the box?”
“Because your mother told me your father was alive.”
There it was.
The confession I had waited for.
“She trusted you.”
“Yes.”
“And you betrayed her.”
“Yes.”
Celeste did not defend herself.
That surprised me more than denial would have.
“I was twenty-four.”
“That does not excuse it.”
“I know.”
“What did Malcolm pay you?”
“Money.”
“For years?”
“No.”
Her voice tightened.
“After I gave him the box, he showed me photographs of my younger brother buying drugs.”
I said nothing.
“He threatened to send them to the police and destroy his life.”
“You could have gone to my mother.”
“I was terrified.”
“So you spent twelve years helping Malcolm.”
“Yes.”
“And sleeping with my husband was part of that?”
A long pause followed.
“At first.”
Nathan looked away.
That answer humiliated him.
Good.
“What do you mean, at first?”
“I was supposed to keep Nathan ambitious.”
Celeste’s voice trembled slightly for the first time.
“Malcolm knew Nathan resented living in your family’s shadow.”
“So you fed that resentment.”
“Yes.”
“And then?”
“I stopped pretending.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
I felt no jealousy.
Only disgust.
“What do you want from me?”
“Protection.”
“In exchange for?”
“Everything.”
Maya leaned closer.
“Ask what she has.”
I did.
Celeste exhaled.
“I have the original notary log from the forged transfer.”
Maya’s eyes widened.
“And?”
“I have emails between Malcolm and Peter Lang.”
My pulse jumped.
“And?”
“One recording.”
“What recording?”
Celeste’s voice dropped to almost a whisper.
“The night your mother died.”
I stopped breathing.
My mother had died from complications following an aneurysm.
At least that was what I had been told.
“What is on it?”
“I won’t send it electronically.”
“Why?”
“Because Malcolm knows how to find things.”
“Where do you want to meet?”
Celeste gave me the address of an abandoned private club once owned by my family.
Maya shook her head immediately.
Too dangerous.
I agreed anyway.
Before Celeste disconnected, she said one more thing.
“Emma.”
“What?”
“If Malcolm discovers you found your father, do not go home.”
“Why?”
“Because twelve years ago, Thomas Carlisle survived one attempt to disappear him.”
May you like
Her next words made the room go silent.
“Malcolm won’t make the same mistake twice.”
