Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN WHO PLANNED HER OWN DOWNFALL
Walter arrived at the apartment just after midnight.
He watched the video twice, then closed the laptop.
“Margaret has been building a case against Nate,” he said. “If this recording becomes public, she can claim he was part of the plan.”
“Was he?” Hannah asked.
Walter didn't answer.
Nate entered behind him, his face drawn and exhausted.
“I wasn't conscious in that video,” he said. “I remember nothing.”
“Do you recognize the room?” Hannah asked.
“It's my mother's office.”
“Then tell me why you were there.”
Nate looked at the floor.
“I went to confront her after I discovered money missing from the company. I remember drinking water. After that, nothing.”
Hannah's anger returned.
“You were drugged?”
“I think so.”
“You think so?”
“I don't know.”
She turned away before she said something she could not take back.
Walter explained that the microSD card was only one piece of the evidence. The encrypted file required a second authorization, likely connected to the Blackwood trust. The necklace had been designed to collect information without drawing attention. Margaret had either wanted leverage over everyone involved or intended to frame them when the conspiracy was exposed.
“Why would she record herself?” Rosa asked.
“Because she believes she can control the evidence,” Walter replied. “People like Margaret don't think the rules apply to them.”
Hannah looked at the sleeping baby.
“Then we stop playing by her rules.”
She agreed to meet Celeste, but only after they devised a plan. Walter would arrange surveillance outside the theater. Rosa would remain nearby with the baby and Ethan. Nate would stay away from the entrance unless Hannah called for him.
“You want me to let you walk into a trap alone?” Nate asked.
“I want you to understand that I am not your possession.”
He flinched.
“I know.”
“Do you? Because every time you say you're protecting me, you try to make the decision for me.”
Nate looked at the floor.
“Tell me what you need.”
“Nothing from you that you haven't earned.”
The answer left him silent.
At the theater, rainwater dripped through the cracked ceiling. Dust covered the seats, and a single work light illuminated the stage.
Celeste stood near the center aisle wearing a black coat and no makeup. Without the cameras and designer clothing, she looked younger and more frightened than Hannah had ever seen her.
“You came,” Celeste said.
“Tell me where Lily is.”
“She's safe for now.”
“That's not an answer.”
Celeste lowered her eyes.
“I didn't know they were going to kill the baby. I thought they wanted you to disappear so Margaret could control the trust.”
“You sent them my hospital room number.”
“I know.”
“You silenced Nate's phone.”
“I know.”
“You watched him delete my voicemail and said nothing.”
Celeste's eyes filled with tears.
“I thought if I helped Margaret, she would protect me. She promised I'd never have to depend on another man again.”
Hannah laughed bitterly.
“So you helped her destroy my family to become untouchable.”
“I was wrong.”
“People always say that after someone else pays the price.”
Celeste accepted the accusation.
She explained that Margaret had discovered Lily's connection to the Blackwood family years earlier. The child had been born to a woman who worked at one of the family's private properties. That woman had died under suspicious circumstances, and the birth records had been altered.
Celeste had helped raise Lily because she had once been close to the girl's mother.
“Why did Margaret keep her hidden?” Hannah asked.
“Because Lily is the first biological descendant of Walter's older brother. His branch of the family was supposed to inherit the trust before Nate's line.”
Hannah frowned.
“Then my son isn't the first heir?”
“Not according to the original records.”
Celeste reached into her coat and removed a folded letter.
“Margaret changed the legal definitions after the older branch disappeared. She intended to use your son's birth to trigger the trust and then claim Lily was the legitimate heir. If the records surface, she can take control of everything.”
“Why would she need my son dead?”
“Because his birth threatens her claim. If both children are registered, the trustee must investigate the entire family line.”
Hannah studied the letter.
“Where is Lily now?”
Celeste hesitated.
“Margaret moved her this afternoon. I don't know the address.”
Hannah's patience snapped.
“You expect me to believe you risked meeting me without knowing where the child is?”
“I have something else.”
Celeste held out a small brass key.
“It opens a safe deposit box at a bank in Manhattan. Lily's mother left documents there before she died. Margaret never found them.”
Hannah took the key.
“Why give it to me?”
“Because I'm tired of being the woman who stands beside powerful men while they destroy everyone else.”
Before Hannah could answer, a gunshot shattered the theater's silence.
Celeste fell to the floor.
Hannah dropped behind a row of seats as another shot struck the stage.
A figure appeared in the balcony.
Nate rushed through the side entrance, ignoring the plan.
Walter's men shouted from outside.
The shooter disappeared through a maintenance door.
Hannah crawled toward Celeste.
Blood spread across the woman's coat, but she was conscious.
“Lily,” Celeste whispered. “The safe deposit box. Don't let Margaret get there first.”
Hannah pressed a hand against the wound.
“Stay with me.”
Celeste gripped her wrist.
“There's something else. Nate doesn't know what happened to his first fiancée.”
Hannah froze.
Nate knelt beside them.
“What did you say?”
Celeste's eyes moved toward him.
“Your mother didn't just hide a child, Nate. She erased a woman.”
Then her eyes closed.
Sirens wailed outside.
Hannah looked at Nate.
He seemed unable to breathe.
“What first fiancée?” she asked.
Nate stared at Celeste's bloodstained coat.
“Her name was Amelia Hart,” he whispered. “She disappeared before I met you.”
Walter's face changed.
May you like
“Amelia wasn't missing,” he said. “She was murdered.”
And the person who had ordered it was still alive.
