CHAPTER 5: CELESTE’S CONFESSION
Nathan escaped through a maintenance tunnel beneath the building.
Security footage showed him entering an ambulance that had been reported stolen that morning.
The driver’s face was hidden.
But a camera captured a silver ring on the driver’s hand.
The Monroe family crest.
Victor was alive.
And he was cleaning up the empire he had built in the shadows.
That evening, I received another call from Celeste.
This time, she gave me an address.
An abandoned church in Queens.
My security team wanted to enter first.
I refused.
Celeste would run if she saw armed officers.
I entered through a side door wearing a concealed transmitter beneath my coat.
Celeste sat alone in the front pew.
Her crimson gown was gone. She wore jeans, an oversized sweater, and no makeup.
Without the performance, she looked younger.
Terrified.
“You came,” she said.
“You told me my mother was murdered.”
“She was.”
“By your father?”
Celeste stared at the dark altar.
“My father caused the crash. Nathan’s father helped him cover it up.”
I sat several feet away.
“Why did you help them?”
“Because I grew up believing your family destroyed mine.”
She explained that Victor had raised her under false names in Europe and South America. He told her Elias Vale had stolen the company, killed her mother, and forced him into hiding.
Nathan had been introduced to her six years ago.
Their affair began before my wedding.
“You were always part of the plan,” Celeste said. “Nathan was supposed to marry you, gain access to your trust, and make your death look like an accident.”
Cold spread through me.
“The staircase?”
“That was a test. My father wanted to see whether Nathan could hurt you without losing control.”
“And the night at Blackthorn Manor?”
Celeste’s eyes filled with shame.
“Nathan learned you were collecting financial records. He thought fear would make you surrender them.”
“You encouraged him.”
“Yes.”
Her honesty was almost worse than another lie.
“Why call me now?”
“Because my father is going to kill Nathan.”
I stared at her.
“Victor needs someone to blame. If Nathan dies while running from federal investigators, every crime can be placed on him.”
“Where is Nathan?”
“At Pier Seventeen. There’s a freighter leaving before dawn.”
I stood.
Celeste caught my wrist.
“There’s something else.”
She handed me a small digital recorder.
“My father kept this for insurance. It was recorded the night your mother died.”
Before I could activate it, the church doors opened.
Daniel walked inside.
He carried no visible weapon.
“Celeste,” he said, “your father is waiting.”
My cousin looked at me with exhausted sadness.
“I never wanted you involved, Evelyn.”
“You approved the transfers.”
“I kept Victor satisfied so he wouldn’t come after our family.”
“You helped Nathan destroy me.”
“I was trying to prevent a war.”
Celeste stood.
“You were protecting yourself.”
Daniel’s expression hardened.
Outside, tires screeched against the pavement.
My security transmitter suddenly went dead.
Daniel stepped toward us.
“We have thirty seconds before Victor’s men enter.”
I held up the recorder.
“What is on this?”
“The truth,” he said. “But once you hear it, you may never forgive your father.”
The church windows shattered inward.
Daniel grabbed both of us and pulled us behind a stone column.
“Decide quickly,” he said. “Do you want revenge against me?”
May you like
He pointed toward a narrow passage behind the altar.
“Or do you want to live long enough to stop Victor?”
