Chapter 7 - The Music Box and the Last ConfessionBy the time Grant and Lydia reached the estate, Celeste was waiting in the library.
The music box sat on the desk.
It was made of dark walnut, with a tiny silver ballerina inside.
Lydia recognized it immediately.
Her mother's.
She stepped forward.
“Where did you get that?”
Celeste closed the lid.
“Your father gave it to me.”
Lydia stopped.
“My father?”
“Several weeks before he died.”
“Why?”
Celeste looked at Grant.
“Because he wanted to make a deal.”
Grant's expression became dangerous.
“What kind of deal?”
“He offered me the ledger in exchange for money.”
Lydia shook her head.
“That's a lie.”
“Is it?”
“My father spent his entire life trying to prove he was innocent.”
“And yet he came to me.”
Celeste smiled faintly.
“People become desperate when they are dying.”
Grant reached for the music box.
Celeste moved it away.
“Not so fast.”
“Give it to me.”
“First, I want you to understand something. Your father wasn't a saint. He knew about the transfers. He signed documents. He benefited from the company. The truth is never as simple as your wife wants it to be.”
Lydia looked at her.
“Then show us the documents.”
Celeste opened the box.
A small folded paper rested beneath the music mechanism.
She removed it and handed it to Grant.
It was a handwritten confession from Richard Holloway.
He admitted that Daniel had been framed.
He also admitted that Celeste had authorized the transfers.
But the final paragraph was different.
There was one person who knew the truth before any of us. Someone who could have stopped the damage. Someone I trusted more than anyone.
Grant read the sentence twice.
“Who?”
Celeste looked away.
“Your father never finished the confession.”
“Who was he talking about?”
She remained silent.
Lydia opened the music box.
The ballerina began to turn.
A familiar melody filled the room.
Then something clicked.
A hidden compartment opened beneath the velvet lining.
Inside was a tiny memory card.
Grant called his investigator.
“Get a forensic team here. Immediately.”
Celeste stood.
“You don't know what you're doing.”
Grant turned.
“I know exactly what I'm doing.”
“No, you don't. Your father built this family on compromises. You think you can expose everything and walk away untouched?”
“I'd rather lose everything than keep living on a lie.”
Celeste's face twisted.
“You sound noble now. But you forget something.”
“What?”
She looked directly at Lydia.
“Your father came to me because he was afraid of what his own daughter might discover.”
Lydia went pale.
“What are you talking about?”
Celeste didn't answer.
The investigator arrived twenty minutes later.
The memory card contained several files.
Most were corrupted.
One video played.
Richard Holloway appeared on the screen, sitting in his office.
He looked older than Grant remembered.
His voice was weak.
“If anyone is watching this, then Daniel has finally found the courage to speak.”
He paused.
“There's something I must confess. Celeste was involved, but she wasn't the person who started the fraud.”
Grant leaned closer.
“Who did?”
Richard looked directly into the camera.
“Someone inside my own company. Someone I trusted with every account.”
The video glitched.
Then the final image appeared.
A name.
GRANT HOLLOWAY.
The room went silent.
Grant stared at the screen.
“That isn't possible.”
Celeste's expression changed.
For the first time, she looked almost relieved.
Lydia turned toward her husband.
“Grant?”
He didn't answer.
Because suddenly he remembered something.
At twenty-four, he had signed several documents his father had placed in front of him.
He had never questioned them.
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He had been told they were routine investment authorizations.
What if they weren't?
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