Chapter 6 - WHAT CELESTE KNEW
At 7:40 that evening, Celeste called.
Amy nearly rejected the call.
Margaret stopped her.
"Answer."
Amy frowned.
"Why?"
"Because people talk when they're scared."
Amy accepted.
"Hello."
Celeste sounded subdued.
"I need to see you."
"No."
"Amy, please."
"You've had weeks to speak to me."
"I know."
"Then send whatever you have."
"I can't."
"Why?"
"Because Daniel doesn't know I kept it."
Amy looked at Margaret.
"What did you keep?"
Celeste hesitated.
"Proof."
Thirty minutes later, Amy arrived at a quiet Lakeview coffee shop.
Rachel sat beside her.
Celeste came in wearing jeans and a camel coat.
There was no makeup on her face.
She looked nothing like the woman from the ballroom.
She looked exhausted.
"Thank you for coming."
Amy's expression stayed flat.
"I didn't come for you."
"I know."
Rachel placed her phone on the table.
"For everyone's protection, I'm recording this conversation."
Celeste nodded.
"Fine."
Amy folded her arms.
"Start."
Celeste looked directly at her.
"Daniel and I are not sleeping together."
Amy gave no reaction.
"We haven't kissed."
Still nothing.
"The dance was inappropriate."
Amy's jaw tightened.
Celeste continued.
"I knew that."
"Why did you do it?"
"Because I was angry."
"At me?"
"At Daniel."
Amy frowned.
"That makes no sense."
"It will."
Celeste opened her purse and removed a flash drive.
"I worked with Daniel and Charles on the River North project for eighteen months."
Rachel began taking notes.
"Why were you given forty percent of MHD?"
"Because I brought the original investor."
"Who?"
"Vantage Capital."
Amy recognized the name.
Celeste continued.
"Six months ago, I discovered cost reports didn't match invoices."
"Meaning?"
"Someone was moving expenses between projects."
Rachel leaned forward.
"Improper accounting?"
Celeste nodded.
Amy felt cold.
"Daniel?"
"No."
The answer came instantly.
"Charles."
Amy pictured Daniel's father.
"Did Daniel know?"
"Not at first."
"And then?"
"I told him."
"When?"
"Three months ago."
Three months.
The exact period when Daniel started becoming distant.
"What did he do?"
"He confronted Charles."
Relief flickered through Amy.
Then Celeste continued.
"Charles convinced him exposing it would collapse the company."
"So Daniel helped hide it."
Celeste looked down.
"Yes."
Amy swallowed.
"Why use my property?"
"The bank wanted clean collateral after Vantage threatened to withdraw."
"And Daniel thought my inheritance was convenient."
"He thought he could replace it before you found out."
Amy gave a bitter laugh.
"How generous."
Celeste pushed the flash drive across the table.
"This contains the original internal reports."
Rachel did not take it yet.
"How did you obtain them?"
"I made copies before Charles removed my access."
Amy frowned.
"Why would Charles remove your access if you were helping him?"
"Because I changed my mind."
"About what?"
"Keeping quiet."
Celeste looked toward the window.
"I told Daniel I was going to the board."
Amy thought of the anonymous text.
"When?"
"The night before your wedding."
"Did you send me the message?"
Celeste shook her head.
"No."
"Then who did?"
"I don't know."
Amy searched her face.
"Why were you dancing with Daniel?"
Celeste exhaled.
"He asked me not to expose everything until after your honeymoon."
Amy felt disgust.
"And that turned into a romantic dance?"
"No."
Celeste's mouth tightened.
"I told him he was becoming exactly like his father."
Amy waited.
"He said I didn't understand what he was carrying."
"And then?"
"I said I understood him better than anyone."
Amy's eyes hardened.
Celeste did not look away.
"That was cruel."
"Yes."
"Then you touched him."
"Yes."
"And he let you."
Celeste nearly whispered.
"Yes."
Amy nodded.
At least the answers were clean now.
"Did you want him back?"
Celeste took too long to answer.
Amy already knew.
"At some point, yes."
Rachel watched silently.
Celeste went on.
"But that isn't why I'm here."
"Why are you here?"
Her eyes moved to Amy's stomach.
"Because he chose to lie to you."
Amy narrowed her eyes.
"Don't make yourself noble."
"I'm not."
Celeste's voice broke.
"I helped him."
That stopped Amy.
"I drafted part of the financing package."
"You knew he wasn't telling me."
"Yes."
"You asked him directly."
"Yes."
"And you went forward anyway."
"Yes."
Amy sat back.
"Then why should I trust anything you're saying?"
"You shouldn't."
Celeste pushed the flash drive farther.
"You should verify it."
Rachel picked it up.
Amy studied Celeste.
"Why now?"
"Because Charles is preparing to blame Daniel for everything."
Amy froze.
"What?"
"The accounting records have been altered to make it appear Daniel approved transactions he didn't approve."
Rachel's focus sharpened.
"Do you have evidence?"
"On the drive."
Amy thought about her husband.
The betrayal remained.
Yet something else had appeared beside it.
Daniel had deceived her.
He had used her inheritance.
He might also be the next person his father intended to sacrifice.
Both truths could exist at once.
Amy hated that.
"Does Daniel know?"
"No."
"Why not tell him?"
Celeste gave a hollow laugh.
"Because he stopped listening to me when I told him to confess."
Amy looked away.
Outside, people moved under streetlights.
Clara shifted inside her.
Amy touched her stomach.
Celeste noticed.
"I'm sorry."
Amy met her eyes.
"Don't apologize because I'm pregnant."
"I'm not."
"Then why?"
"Because I knew what it was like to love Daniel and disappear inside the Mercer family."
Amy stared at her.
Celeste gathered her coat.
Before standing, she said one last thing.
"Ask Margaret why she left Charles for six months in 1998."
Amy turned.
"What?"
Celeste rose.
"Daniel isn't the first Mercer man who thought keeping a family together justified lying to his wife."
Then she left.
Rachel looked at Amy.
"Do you want me to analyze the drive?"
"Yes."
"And Margaret?"
May you like
Amy stared through the glass.
"That conversation happens tonight."
