Chapter 10 - Celeste’s Version of the Truth
Hannah and Celeste escaped through a drainage tunnel beneath the marina.
Hannah hated every second of trusting her.
But bullets made philosophical arguments less important.
They reached a drainage ditch half a mile away.
Celeste collapsed against the concrete wall.
Hannah kept moving.
“Get up.”
Celeste laughed breathlessly.
“You're ordering me around?”
“You kidnapped a child.”
“And I just saved you.”
“That balances absolutely nothing.”
Celeste’s face hardened.
“I did not kidnap Noah.”
Hannah stopped.
“You just happened to visit his hidden room forty-seven times?”
Celeste looked away.
Hannah stepped closer.
“Tell me what happened.”
“No.”
“Then I'm leaving you here.”
Celeste looked up.
“You don't know where we are.”
“I know away from you.”
Hannah turned.
Celeste finally spoke.
“Malcolm arranged the hospital.”
Hannah stopped.
“Victor transported Noah.”
“Gideon forged the documents.”
“And you?”
Celeste swallowed.
“I learned Noah was alive three days after the funeral.”
Hannah slowly turned.
“You let Adrian mourn him.”
“Yes.”
“For three years.”
“Yes.”
“You lived with that man.”
“Yes.”
“You slept beside him.”
Celeste flinched.
“Yes.”
“And every time he cried for his son, you knew the boy was inside the same house.”
Celeste’s eyes filled.
Hannah felt no sympathy.
“You are worse than Malcolm.”
“You don't understand.”
“Then make me.”
Celeste looked toward the tunnel entrance.
“Malcolm owns pieces of everyone.”
“Not me.”
“That's why he hates you.”
Hannah almost laughed.
Celeste continued.
“When I met Malcolm seven years ago, I was an investment analyst.”
“He used me to move funds.”
“I thought it was aggressive tax structuring.”
“Then I learned it was theft.”
“Why didn't you leave?”
“He showed me everything I had signed.”
“He said if he fell, I fell.”
“So you kept helping.”
“At first.”
“And Isabelle?”
Celeste closed her eyes.
“She found the transfers.”
“Did you kill her?”
“No.”
“Did you know Malcolm planned to?”
“No.”
Hannah studied her.
Celeste looked genuinely terrified.
“I swear.”
“Did you know afterward?”
A long silence.
“Yes.”
Hannah stepped back.
Celeste continued before she could leave.
“I found out because Victor was drunk.”
“He said something about brakes.”
“I confronted Malcolm.”
“He showed me photographs of my younger sister.”
“Her apartment.”
“Her route to work.”
“He told me accidents happen to curious women.”
Hannah remained unmoved.
“So you joined him.”
“I survived him.”
“You married Adrian.”
Celeste looked ashamed.
“That was Malcolm’s idea.”
Hannah’s disgust deepened.
“He wanted someone beside Adrian.”
“Someone who could keep him from reviewing company decisions.”
“Someone who could keep him emotionally dependent.”
“And you agreed.”
Celeste whispered.
“Yes.”
“Did you ever love Adrian?”
Celeste looked away.
That pause was different.
“Yes.”
Hannah almost scoffed.
“I know how that sounds.”
“It sounds convenient.”
“I didn't plan to.”
Celeste’s voice dropped.
“He was grieving.”
“He was kind.”
“He trusted me when he should not have.”
“The more I learned who he actually was, the worse everything became.”
Hannah crossed her arms.
“And Noah?”
“When Malcolm told me Noah had to disappear, I panicked.”
“He said the trust required the boy alive.”
“They would hide him until they could restructure the company.”
“I asked how long.”
“He said months.”
“It became years.”
“And you visited him.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“At first to verify he was alive.”
Hannah’s eyes hardened.
“Later?”
Celeste wiped her face.
“Later because he was alone.”
Hannah stared at her.
“You want credit for visiting the child you helped imprison?”
“No.”
Celeste’s answer came immediately.
“No.”
“I want nothing.”
“I deserve nothing.”
That was the first honest thing Hannah believed.
“Why didn't you free him?”
“I tried once.”
“What happened?”
“Victor caught me.”
“He moved Noah.”
“Malcolm showed me video of my sister’s son walking to school.”
Hannah said nothing.
Celeste continued.
“I became a coward.”
“I told myself keeping Noah alive was enough.”
“It wasn't.”
“No.”
“It wasn't.”
Hannah thought about the gala.
“Were you going to release him?”
Celeste nodded.
“Tonight?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I arranged for Hannah Brooks to work the west ballroom.”
Hannah blinked.
“I thought Elliot changed the schedule.”
Celeste stared.
“Elliot?”
Hannah realized something.
Two different people had tried to place her near Noah.
Neither knew about the other.
Celeste continued.
“I had the caterers move the dessert station against the west wall.”
“I planned to unlock the inner door.”
“Noah knew to call your name.”
Hannah suddenly understood why the voice came so clearly through that exact section.
“You set up the discovery.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you scream when I opened the wall?”
Celeste gave a hollow laugh.
“Because seeing it actually happen terrified me.”
“And because Edgar was watching.”
“Your exact words were, ‘He wasn't supposed to be here.’”
“I meant that room.”
“Victor had moved him that afternoon.”
Celeste frowned.
“He was supposed to be in the conservatory passage.”
“Someone moved him back.”
Hannah felt cold.
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
Celeste looked at her.
“Malcolm knew I was planning something.”
“Maybe he wanted Noah discovered.”
“Why?”
“To destroy Adrian publicly.”
“That makes no sense.”
“It does if Malcolm already has a way to take the company.”
Hannah stared.
Celeste reached into her coat.
She pulled out a folded document.
“Last month Malcolm filed an emergency succession instrument.”
“What kind?”
“If Adrian is deemed mentally incapacitated due to trauma, Malcolm becomes interim executive chairman.”
Hannah’s eyes widened.
Celeste continued.
“The document requires evidence that Adrian is unstable.”
“So Malcolm lets Noah be discovered.”
“Adrian explodes.”
“Media captures it.”
“The board panics.”
“Malcolm steps in.”
Hannah remembered the gala.
Adrian roaring.
Adrian chasing Gideon through a hidden corridor.
Adrian threatening people.
Perfect footage for a narrative about instability.
Celeste whispered.
“This wasn't Noah’s rescue.”
“It was Malcolm’s coup.”
A phone rang.
Neither woman had a phone.
Celeste looked down.
The sound came from inside Edgar’s coat.
Except Edgar was not with them.
Hannah followed the noise.
A small black phone had been slipped into Celeste’s coat pocket sometime during the warehouse chaos.
Celeste stared at it.
The screen displayed one name.
MALCOLM.
She answered.
His voice came through speakerphone.
“Celeste.”
She said nothing.
“I assume Hannah is with you.”
Hannah looked at her.
Malcolm continued.
“You've both been remarkably inconvenient.”
Celeste’s hand shook.
“What do you want?”
“What I've always wanted.”
“Control.”
“No.”
Malcolm laughed.
“I already have control.”
“What I want now is cleanliness.”
A pause.
“Bring Hannah to the old Vale clinic.”
“Why?”
“Because Gideon is there.”
Hannah froze.
Malcolm continued.
“And if Adrian wants to know what happened to his wife, he should come too.”
The line went dead.
Celeste stared at Hannah.
“It's a trap.”
Hannah nodded.
“Obviously.”
“You're not going.”
Hannah looked toward the distant highway.
“No.”
She held out her hand for the phone.
May you like
“We're bringing everyone.”
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