Chapter 3 - Celeste Runs First
Celeste recovered before Nathan did.
She placed her handbag on the console table.
Then she smiled at the investigators.
“I am happy to cooperate.”
Nathan stared at her.
“What?”
Celeste did not look at him.
“I said I’ll cooperate.”
“You don’t even know what they’re investigating.”
Celeste finally turned.
“Neither do you.”
That answer terrified him.
I saw it immediately.
Nathan stepped closer.
“You know exactly what we did.”
The room went silent.
Celeste’s expression changed.
Only slightly.
But it was enough.
Evelyn looked down at her tablet.
One investigator said nothing.
The other wrote something.
Nathan realized what he had said.
“Business.”
He corrected himself.
“I meant what we did in business.”
Celeste smiled without warmth.
“Of course you did.”
My father leaned toward Evelyn.
“Make sure that exchange is preserved.”
Nathan heard him.
“Stop recording me.”
Dad looked at the sapphire pendant around my neck.
“I haven’t been the one recording you.”
Nathan followed his gaze.
His face twisted.
He reached toward my necklace.
He never touched it.
The security chief caught his wrist in midair.
“Do not.”
Nathan froze.
The man released him.
Nathan stepped back.
For the first time, I saw fear become humiliation.
He hated witnesses.
He hated being controlled.
Most of all, he hated discovering that the powerless wife he had created in his mind had never existed.
The investigators requested a private room.
Evelyn led them toward the study.
Gerald followed.
My father looked at me.
“Hospital.”
“I want to hear what Celeste says.”
“You will.”
“How?”
Dad looked at my necklace.
“We have tonight.”
I knew what he meant.
The recording mattered.
My body mattered more.
I hated that he was right.
Dr. Ellis helped me toward the door.
As I passed Celeste, she leaned closer.
“You think you won.”
I stopped.
Her perfume smelled exactly as it had at every dinner where she sat too close to my husband.
“I think you’re afraid.”
She smiled.
“You should be.”
Then she whispered.
“Nathan isn’t the person you should be investigating.”
I stared at her.
“What does that mean?”
She straightened.
“Ask your father why your mother’s trust was activated six months before you married Nathan.”
My heart stopped.
My father turned from across the foyer.
Celeste saw my expression and smiled wider.
“There.”
“That face.”
“You didn’t know.”
Nathan frowned.
“What is she talking about?”
I looked at Dad.
He had gone very still.
“Dad?”
“Not here.”
Celeste laughed softly.
“Of course not here.”
She picked up her handbag again after an investigator allowed it to be inspected.
“You should ask him about Project Blackthorn too.”
My father’s expression changed.
It happened so fast that Nathan probably missed it.
I did not.
“What is Project Blackthorn?”
Dad stepped toward me.
“Claire, we are leaving.”
“No.”
“Your injuries need treatment.”
“What is Project Blackthorn?”
Celeste moved toward the door.
Dad turned toward her.
His voice dropped.
“Who gave you that name?”
For the first time, Celeste’s confidence slipped.
Then she recovered.
“Maybe your security isn’t as perfect as you think.”
My father stared at her.
“Who?”
Celeste smiled.
“That is a much more interesting question than who financed Nathan.”
She walked outside.
One investigator followed her.
Nathan watched her go.
“You’re letting her leave?”
The second investigator answered.
“For now.”
Nathan suddenly laughed bitterly.
“She’ll disappear.”
“No.”
My father spoke without looking at him.
“She won’t.”
“How do you know?”
Dad finally looked toward Nathan.
“Because she thinks she has something worth bargaining with.”
I felt dizzy.
Not from pain.
From the name Celeste had spoken.
Project Blackthorn.
The same name as the manor.
I looked at my father.
“Did you know Nathan before I met him?”
Dad’s face told me more than his words.
“Claire.”
I pulled away from Dr. Ellis.
“Did you?”
My father looked at the room full of strangers.
Then at me.
Finally, he answered.
“Yes.”
Nathan’s head snapped toward him.
“What?”
I stared at Dad.
The floor seemed to tilt beneath me.
“How?”
Dad exhaled.
“I knew his company.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Silence.
“How long?”
My father looked at me.
“Two years before your first date.”
Nathan whispered.
“That’s impossible.”
Dad did not respond.
I felt anger push through the pain.
“You investigated him before I even met him?”
“No.”
“What did you do?”
Dad’s answer came slowly.
“I invested in him.”
Nathan looked as shocked as I felt.
May you like
I thought I had discovered the secret behind my husband’s success.
Instead, I had found a secret that existed before our marriage even began.
