Chapter 9 - The Hearing.
The first public hearing regarding Ashford Global was held two days later.
Nathan entered the courthouse through the front doors.
That was deliberate.
Cameras surrounded him.
He wore the same calm expression that once convinced investors to hand him hundreds of millions of dollars.
I entered through a secured side entrance.
No cameras.
No statement.
Nathan hated that.
He needed an audience.
I needed a record.
Inside the courtroom, his attorneys attacked the financial evidence first.
They claimed the ledger was unreliable.
They argued that Celeste could have fabricated entries.
They suggested Victor was mentally unstable.
Then they attacked me.
Nathan’s lead attorney stood.
“Mrs. Ashford concealed her true financial background from her husband throughout the marriage, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Your father instructed you to do so?”
“He advised privacy.”
“Privacy?”
The lawyer smiled.
“You allowed your husband to believe your father was a retired accountant.”
“Yes.”
“So deception existed in this marriage from the beginning.”
Rebecca objected.
The judge allowed limited questioning.
I looked toward Nathan.
He was watching me.
Waiting for shame.
I gave him none.
“My family wealth did not authorize my husband to assault me.”
The courtroom went silent.
The attorney changed direction.
“You secretly recorded Mr. Ashford.”
“Yes.”
“You collected financial information.”
“Yes.”
“You communicated with investigators.”
“Yes.”
“While continuing to live with your husband.”
“Yes.”
“While pretending the marriage was intact.”
“No.”
He paused.
“No?”
“The marriage had not been intact for a long time.”
Nathan shifted in his chair.
The attorney walked closer.
“Yet you remained.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
This was the question Nathan wanted.
He expected me to sound calculating.
He expected the jury someday to hear a woman describing revenge.
I answered with the truth.
“Because leaving a dangerous man and stopping a dangerous man are not always the same thing.”
The attorney stared at me.
I continued.
“I wanted to leave.”
“But?”
“He had threatened employees.”
Nathan’s expression changed.
“He controlled company records.”
Another shift.
“He moved money across jurisdictions.”
I looked directly at him.
“And he had spent years convincing people that anything I said about him was evidence that I was unstable.”
The attorney returned to his table.
The judge denied Nathan’s request to suppress the emergency recording at that stage.
It was only a preliminary ruling.
But Nathan understood what it meant.
His most powerful lie would have to compete with his own voice.
Outside the courtroom, something unexpected happened.
Celeste’s attorney requested a meeting.
Rebecca and I entered a private conference room.
Celeste was already seated.
No champagne.
No expensive dress.
No mocking smile.
For the first time since I had known her, she looked human.
That did not make me trust her.
“You found it,” she said.
“The ledger?”
She nodded.
Rebecca remained standing.
“What do you want?”
“Protection.”
“From whom?”
Celeste looked toward me.
“Graham.”
“V?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
I leaned forward.
“Then who is V?”
Fear appeared in her eyes.
Real fear.
“I never met V.”
Rebecca laughed once.
“You expect us to believe that?”
“I received instructions through Graham.”
“Then why write V?”
“Because that’s what Graham called the person above him.”
Above Graham.
The room became colder.
Celeste continued.
“Nathan thought Graham was helping him take control of the Vale trust.”
“Was he?”
“No.”
“What did Graham want?”
“To move the trust assets into companies they could drain.”
“And V?”
“I don’t know.”
I studied her face.
“What happened the night Nathan attacked me?”
Celeste looked down.
I waited.
She swallowed.
“Graham told me to provoke Nathan.”
Rebecca’s eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“He needed evidence.”
“Of what?”
“That Nathan was unstable.”
I almost laughed at the irony.
Nathan had spent years building a case that I was unstable.
Graham had been building the same case against Nathan.
“Why?”
Celeste whispered the answer.
“Because once Nathan accessed the trust, Graham planned to remove him.”
“And control the money himself.”
“Yes.”
I thought about the message.
YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO CONTROL HIM.
NOT PROVOKE HER.
Something did not fit.
“If Graham wanted you to provoke Nathan, why did V complain that you provoked me?”
Celeste looked up.
Her face went pale.
“I never thought about that.”
Rebecca did.
“Which means Graham and V wanted different outcomes.”
The room became silent.
Celeste’s hands began trembling.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“The auction.”
I leaned closer.
“What about it?”
“Graham doesn’t know V is attending.”
My heart started beating faster.
“Then how do you know?”
“Because V contacted me directly yesterday.”
Rebecca froze.
“What did they say?”
May you like
Celeste looked at me.
“Bring Nathan’s wife.”
