Chapter 5 - CELESTE'S SECRET
Celeste contacted me at midnight.
No warning.
No explanation.
Just a message.
I need to meet you. Alone.
I almost ignored it.
Then another message arrived.
Daniel is lying to you about why he took me to the Caribbean.
I agreed.
We met at a small café outside Boston.
Celeste arrived without makeup.
She looked frightened.
“You hate me.”
“Yes.”
She nodded.
“I deserve that.”
“Why are you here?”
She slid an envelope across the table.
“Because I don't want to go to prison for Daniel.”
I opened it.
Photographs.
Contracts.
Bank transfers.
Emails.
Daniel had used Celeste's company to move money.
But Celeste hadn't known everything.
“He told me he was protecting company assets.”
“And you believed him?”
“Yes.”
She looked down.
“Then I discovered the money wasn't just company money.”
“What was it?”
“Your money.”
I stared at her.
“Why did you stay?”
“I was trapped.”
“How?”
She whispered:
“He threatened me.”
“With what?”
“My brother.”
I said nothing.
“He had been accused of stealing from Daniel's company. Daniel used it to control me.”
I closed the envelope.
“Then why the vacation?”
Celeste looked ashamed.
“He wanted photographs.”
“What?”
“He wanted you to see us.”
I felt cold.
“He wanted you to file for divorce.”
“Yes.”
“So I would look like the unfaithful spouse?”
“No.”
She swallowed.
“So he could claim you abandoned the marriage.”
Everything suddenly made sense.
Daniel hadn't lost control.
He had engineered the entire collapse.
He wanted me angry.
Humiliated.
Broken.
He wanted me to walk away.
Then he would take control of the company and challenge the trust.
But there was one thing he hadn't planned.
Noah.
The hospital.
The witnesses.
The photographs.
The phone records.
And me becoming angry enough to fight.
Celeste leaned forward.
“There is one more thing.”
“What?”
“Daniel has another woman.”
I stared.
“Another?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
She whispered a name.
My heart stopped.
“That's impossible.”
“It's not.”
“Who?”
May you like
“Your sister.”
I couldn't breathe.
