Chapter 3: The Woman in Red
Celeste stood so quickly her chair scraped against the floor.
“I didn’t know,” she said.
Adrian looked at her for the first time with something close to pity.
“You knew enough.”
Her lips parted.
“No. Adrian, I swear—”
He raised one hand.
A second video appeared.
This one was recent.
Celeste and Marianne sat inside Marianne’s private office. Celeste wore the same red dress she wore now, only without the diamonds.
On the recording, Marianne slid a folder across the desk.
“Once he announces the engagement, you will convince him to transfer voting control. After the wedding, we remove him from leadership.”
Celeste’s recorded voice answered,
“And if he refuses?”
Marianne smiled.
“Then we make him look unstable, just like his mother.”
The room erupted in whispers.
Celeste staggered back.
Adrian’s voice remained quiet.
“For six months, you lied to me. For six months, you pretended to love me while helping the woman who destroyed my mother.”
Celeste’s eyes filled with tears.
But Adrian did not soften.
“My mother died believing no one would ever know the truth.”
He stood.
“But I knew.”
Marianne’s face twisted.
“You were sixteen. You knew nothing.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“I knew my mother was not insane. I knew she was afraid of you. And I knew the night she died, you were the last person outside her room.”
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Marianne said nothing.
That silence condemned her more than any confession could.
