Chapter 9 - The Accident That Wasn’tCeline had told the story of meeting Bryce so many times that it had become part of their marriage mythology.
She was twenty.
A museum fundraiser.
Too many donors.
Too many speeches.
She had escaped onto a side terrace for air.
Bryce had been there alone.
He joked about how everybody inside was pretending to understand modern sculpture.
She laughed.
They talked for forty minutes.
He did not ask about her money.
That was what she liked most.
At least, that was what she had believed.
Now Julian placed another report on the desk.
“Bryce purchased a ticket to that fundraiser thirty-six hours before the event.”
“So?”
“He’d never donated to the museum before.”
“People attend events.”
“Yes.”
“Nolan knew donors.”
“Also true.”
Celine’s voice sharpened.
“Then don’t tell me you know he targeted me if you don’t.”
Julian stopped.
Hannah nodded slightly.
Celine was right.
Pain did not justify inventing certainty.
“I’m sorry,” Julian said. “I don’t know.”
Celine looked again at the photograph of Bryce researching estate properties.
“What do we know?”
Julian answered more carefully.
“We know Bryce and Nolan researched property associated with Mom’s estate before you met Bryce.”
“Could they have been looking at something else?”
“Yes.”
“We know Bryce attended the fundraiser.”
“Yes.”
“We know he later discussed my house with Nolan while dating me.”
“Yes.”
Celine swallowed.
“That’s enough for now.”
Her phone rang.
Bryce again.
This time she answered.
Hannah activated the recording.
“Hello.”
Bryce sounded exhausted.
“Can we meet?”
“No.”
“Celine, please.”
“What do you want?”
“To explain.”
“You’ve had two years.”
“I mean the financial situation.”
“You mean Redhaven?”
Silence.
Then: “Julian is there.”
It was not a question.
Celine looked toward the windows.
“How do you know?”
“Because I know you.”
“No. You knew how to predict me when you controlled the information I had.”
“Don’t let him use this.”
Celine almost laughed.
“Use what?”
“He’s wanted me gone since before the wedding.”
“Because you lied about your debt.”
A long silence.
Bryce lowered his voice.
“He told you.”
“Yes.”
“There were reasons.”
“You disclosed one hundred twenty thousand dollars when you owed almost eight hundred thousand.”
“Contingent debt is complicated.”
“Three years of emails are less complicated.”
Bryce stopped breathing for a beat.
Celine knew.
He understood.
“You opened the drive.”
“Not personally.”
“Celine.”
“I saw the emails about Julian.”
Bryce said nothing.
“The fake email.”
Still nothing.
“You made me believe my brother wanted to take Mom’s money from me.”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“How was it?”
“Julian was interfering.”
“So you fabricated evidence?”
“He was trying to break us up.”
“Because he discovered you lied on the prenup disclosure.”
“I was going to tell you.”
“When?”
“After we were married.”
Celine closed her eyes.
Of course.
After.
After commitment.
After legal ties.
After access.
After trust.
Always after.
“What about the loan?” she asked.
“Nolan pushed it too far.”
“You signed a consulting agreement for six hundred thousand dollars.”
“That money wasn’t profit.”
“What was it?”
“Money owed to me.”
“For what?”
“Prior investments.”
“Then why did it only become payable if a loan against my house funded?”
Bryce did not answer.
Celine continued.
“And why is there a false notary acknowledgment saying I appeared in front of Elise Barrett while I was in Chicago?”
“I didn’t create that.”
“Who did?”
“Nolan.”
“Did you know?”
“No.”
Mara was sitting across the room.
Her face changed.
Celine noticed.
“What?”
Mara shook her head.
Celine pointed at the phone.
“Tell him.”
Mara leaned closer.
“Bryce.”
Silence on the line.
Mara continued.
“I was outside the study when Elise came.”
Bryce said nothing.
“You told her Celine’s flight records were enough to prove she was out of state.”
“Mara, stop.”
Celine’s heart started pounding.
Mara looked at her.
“I forgot that.”
“Forgot what?”
“She argued with him.”
“About?”
“The date.”
Celine moved the phone closer.
Mara spoke directly toward it.
“Elise said the acknowledgment date could create a problem because Celine was traveling. Bryce told her no one would compare it unless the loan went bad.”
Bryce’s voice turned cold.
“You are lying.”
Mara’s face crumpled.
“No.”
“You’re lying because you think Celine will protect you.”
Mara pushed away from the table.
Celine said, “That’s enough.”
Bryce immediately softened.
“Celine, you don’t understand what Mara did.”
“Then tell me.”
“I found evidence she’d been taking cash from your room.”
Mara stared.
“What?”
“She knows.”
“No, I don’t!”
Bryce continued.
“She stole jewelry too.”
Celine looked at Mara.
Mara’s face was pure disbelief.
“Which jewelry?” Celine asked.
“The diamond bracelet your mother left you.”
Celine stopped.
She had not worn that bracelet in nearly a year.
It was kept in the bedroom safe.
Bryce knew the combination.
Mara sometimes cleaned the room.
“Where is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“When did you notice it missing?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“I was investigating.”
“By sleeping with the suspect?”
Julian covered his mouth to hide an involuntary expression.
Bryce snapped, “That isn’t funny.”
“No,” Celine said. “It really isn’t.”
She stood.
“Tell me where the bracelet is.”
“I don’t know.”
“Then I’ll check the safe.”
Celine walked upstairs with everyone following.
The safe sat behind a panel in the dressing room.
She entered the code.
The door opened.
Passport.
Jewelry boxes.
Her mother’s pearls.
Two watches.
She pulled open the drawer where the bracelet belonged.
Empty.
Celine’s stomach dropped.
Mara whispered, “I never touched it.”
Bryce spoke through the phone.
“Of course you didn’t.”
Celine ignored him.
She searched the safe.
Nothing.
Then Biscuit entered the dressing room.
He sniffed around the open safe.
Walked toward the vanity.
Stopped.
Sniffed again.
Celine looked down.
“What is it?”
The dog pushed his nose toward the narrow space beneath a built-in cabinet.
Something glinted deep inside.
Julian crouched.
“Flashlight.”
Mara handed him her phone.
Julian reached under the cabinet and dragged out a small velvet pouch covered in dust.
Celine recognized it instantly.
She opened it.
The diamond bracelet slid into her palm.
No one spoke.
It had not been stolen.
It had been hidden.
Celine looked toward the phone.
“Bryce?”
Silence.
“You said Mara stole this.”
He disconnected.
Celine stared at the dead screen.
Then at the dusty pouch.
The bracelet had been pushed beneath a cabinet where Celine was unlikely to find it.
A small lie.
A planted accusation.
Another story Bryce had prepared in advance.
Julian stood slowly.
“He planned to blame Mara if something went wrong.”
Mara looked sick.
Celine closed her hand around the diamonds.
“No.”
May you like
She looked toward the blue folder downstairs.
“He planned to blame whoever he needed.”
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