Chapter 15 - Celeste's Last Lie
Celeste stood at the front of the boardroom in the same white dress from the night before, now hidden beneath a borrowed black coat.
She looked exhausted.
She also looked terrified.
On the screen behind her was a wire transfer.
$250,000.
Sender: Cross Harbor Strategic Services.
Recipient: Harbor Shield LLC.
Mason's company.
Every director looked at me.
"That's not mine," I said.
Celeste's voice shook. "It carries your company's name."
"A company name can be typed. Bank routing cannot."
Our CFO, Maya Chen, pulled up the routing details.
"Account originated at Sterling Private Bank," she said.
Celeste froze.
I looked at her.
"Who gave you this?"
She said nothing.
"Robert Jr.?"
Her eyes filled.
Evan stood.
"Celeste. Tell the truth."
She turned on him.
"You think truth fixes anything? Mom told the truth and she spent the last year of her life afraid. Dad told me if Ava took control we'd lose everything. Robert said he could stop it."
"So you helped him frame me?"
"I thought he was protecting us."
"He used you."
Her shoulders collapsed.
Then she took out her second phone.
"I know."
She placed it on the table.
"Because he called me after Pier 9."
The call had recorded automatically.
Robert Jr.'s voice filled the room.
"You were supposed to get the key and destroy the recorder. Now you're going to fix this. If Ava won't sell, make the board believe she hired Mason."
No one moved.
Maya looked at me.
"That's enough to kill the leave vote."
"Not enough," I said.
Everyone stared.
I was tired of winning only the next hour.
My father had spent his final years fighting one lie at a time.
I wanted the whole machine.
"We hold the vote anyway," I said. "Then we hold the Whitmore board vote. Then we release everything to investigators and the market at once."
Richard frowned. "That could destroy both companies."
"Maybe."
"You would risk billions?"
I looked at Celeste, then Evan, then the photograph of my father still in my bag.
"No. Sterling did that years ago. I'm just refusing to hide the bill."
The board secretary began calling names.
May you like
Halfway through the vote, the doors opened.
Robert Sterling Jr. walked in with six lawyers.
