Chapter 6 - Mara’s ConfessionMara sat at the kitchen island with both hands wrapped around a cup of coffee she had not touched.
Her uniform was gone.
Celine had given her jeans and a sweater from the guest closet.
The clothes made Mara look less like an employee.
That did not make her easier to look at.
Celine entered with Hannah.
Mara stood.
“You talked to your brother?”
Celine’s expression sharpened.
“How do you know about Julian?”
Mara went pale.
“I heard Bryce mention him.”
“When?”
“Many times.”
Celine pulled out a chair.
“Sit.”
Mara did.
Celine remained standing.
“I’m going to ask you questions. You’re going to answer them once. Clearly.”
Mara nodded.
“How long have you been sleeping with my husband?”
“Five months.”
“How did it start?”
Mara looked at the table.
“He started coming into the kitchen late when you were traveling.”
“That doesn’t answer me.”
“He talked to me.”
“So did I.”
“I know.”
“What did he say?”
Mara swallowed.
“That you didn’t love him anymore.”
Celine stared.
“He said you treated him like an accessory. That everything belonged to you. The house. The money. The decisions.”
“And you believed him?”
“At first.”
“Why?”
Mara’s eyes filled.
“Because he was convincing.”
Celine laughed without humor.
“Yes. He is.”
Mara continued.
“He said you were planning to divorce him after your second anniversary.”
“My second anniversary was three months ago.”
“I know.”
“And yet you continued sleeping with him.”
Mara lowered her eyes.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because by then it wasn’t only what he said.”
“What does that mean?”
“I loved him.”
The words hit Celine with surprising force.
Not because she believed Bryce deserved love.
Because Mara did.
Or thought she did.
Celine sat down.
“Did he love you?”
Mara hesitated.
That hesitation answered first.
“He said he did.”
“What did he promise you?”
“An apartment.”
Celine’s stomach twisted.
“Bought with what?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did he promise to leave me?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“After everything was settled.”
Hannah spoke.
“What did ‘settled’ mean?”
“I thought divorce.”
“At first?”
Mara looked at her.
“Yes.”
Celine caught the phrase.
“At first.”
Mara pressed her hands together.
“Around two months ago, he started asking me to get documents.”
“Which documents?”
“Insurance statements. Copies of Celine’s identification. The estate binder.”
“Why did you do it?”
“He said his attorney needed them to calculate what a divorce would look like.”
Celine’s face hardened.
“You helped my husband prepare to take my assets in a divorce.”
Mara’s voice broke.
“Yes.”
Hannah interrupted.
“Keep going.”
Mara nodded.
“Then Nolan started coming over.”
“What did they discuss?”
“Money.”
“How much?”
“I heard one-point-one million once.”
Celine remembered Julian’s figure.
More than eight hundred thousand in debt before the wedding.
“What else?”
“Bryce said he could solve it if he had temporary access to the equity.”
“The house.”
“Yes.”
“Did he say Celine agreed?”
“At first he said she would.”
“And later?”
Mara looked directly at Celine.
“Later he said you didn’t need to understand every page.”
Celine’s fingers tightened around the chair.
Mara continued.
“I asked him what that meant. He got angry. He said married people sign things for each other all the time.”
Hannah asked, “Did you see anyone imitate Celine’s signature?”
“No. But I saw practice sheets.”
“What practice sheets?”
Mara closed her eyes briefly.
“Pages with her name written over and over.”
Celine felt sick.
“Where?”
“Bryce’s desk.”
“Do you have photographs?”
Mara hesitated.
Bryce’s accusation from the night before returned to Celine.
Ask her why she already knew where the appraisal was.
Celine leaned forward.
“Mara.”
“Yes.”
“Did you take photographs?”
“Yes.”
“Where are they?”
“My phone.”
“Show us.”
Mara unlocked it.
She opened a hidden album.
The first image showed a sheet of paper.
CELINE.
Again.
CELINE.
Again.
Different slants.
Different pressure.
Different attempts at the curve of the C.
Celine stared.
The second photograph showed Nolan standing beside Bryce’s desk.
The third showed the Atlas Crest paperwork.
The fourth showed a text conversation between Mara and Bryce.
BRYCE: Need the brown binder in study before 10.
MARA: Why?
BRYCE: Don’t start.
MARA: You said this was about divorce.
BRYCE: It is about making sure I don’t leave with nothing.
Then another.
MARA: Does Celine know?
BRYCE: She knows enough.
Celine whispered, “He used you.”
Mara’s eyes filled.
“I know that now.”
“No.”
Celine looked at her.
“He used you. But you used me too.”
Mara started crying.
“I know.”
“You came into my bedroom every morning.”
“Yes.”
“You asked me how my trip was going.”
“Yes.”
“You helped me choose the dress I wore on our anniversary.”
Mara covered her mouth.
Celine’s own eyes burned.
“And then you slept with him in my bed.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Sorry is too small.”
“I know.”
“Stop saying you know.”
Mara fell silent.
Hannah allowed several seconds to pass.
Then she asked, “When did you decide to start taking photographs?”
Mara wiped her cheeks.
“When I realized Bryce was lying to me too.”
“What happened?”
“He told me the appraisal was for divorce negotiations. But I saw the loan amount.”
“Three-point-six million?”
Mara nodded.
“Then I heard Nolan tell him the private lender would release funds within forty-eight hours after recording.”
Celine’s blood went cold.
“So they expected money.”
“Yes.”
“Where was it going?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did Bryce?”
“Yes.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Nolan asked if he was still taking his agreed share.”
Celine stared.
“What share?”
Mara’s voice became almost inaudible.
“Six hundred thousand.”
The kitchen went silent.
Celine slowly leaned back.
Bryce was not merely desperate.
He expected to be paid.
Hannah wrote something down.
“What about the rest?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did they name another account?”
“Redhaven.”
Celine looked at Hannah.
Same company.
Mara continued.
“That was when I started keeping evidence.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Mara looked ashamed.
“Because telling you meant admitting everything else.”
“The affair.”
“Yes.”
“And the documents.”
“Yes.”
“So you waited.”
“Yes.”
“Until Biscuit found you.”
Mara nodded.
The truth was ugly.
Not heroic.
Celine appreciated that more than another excuse.
Hannah asked, “Do you have anything else?”
Mara hesitated.
“One recording.”
Celine’s heart jumped.
“Of what?”
“I didn’t mean to record the whole conversation. I turned my phone on before I went into the study because I wanted proof.”
“When?”
“Six days ago.”
“Who was there?”
“Bryce and Nolan.”
Mara opened an audio file.
At first, only room noise.
Then Nolan’s voice.
“…Friday is the limit.”
Bryce answered.
“She gets back Thursday.”
“No delays. Atlas won’t hold the funds.”
“She’ll sign.”
“And if she reads it?”
A pause.
Then Bryce laughed.
Celine stopped breathing.
She knew that laugh.
Warm.
Careless.
Confident.
The same laugh he used when telling people he knew his wife better than anyone.
May you like
Then his recorded voice said:
“Celine trusts me. That’s the one thing I’ve never had to worry about.”
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