Chapter 2 - “Make Lydia Choose”The recording continued.
Dorian watched himself pace around Celeste’s study.
He had nowhere to look except the screen.
Lydia stood three feet away from him.
She no longer touched him.
That seemed to bother him more than anything.
On video, Celeste pushed the transfer request back across the desk.
“Northstar Bridge Capital has existed for eleven months.”
Dorian answered:
“So?”
“It has no employees.”
“It’s an investment vehicle.”
“No registered investment history.”
“That doesn’t mean anything.”
“It means I’m not transferring six-point-eight million dollars into it tomorrow.”
Dorian’s shoulders tightened.
“Lydia approved it.”
Celeste looked down at the paper.
“No.”
“She signed.”
“She did not.”
Present-day Lydia whispered:
“What?”
Marcus turned toward her.
“You didn’t sign?”
“I’ve never seen that.”
Dorian faced her.
“You did. There were several financial documents last week.”
“I signed insurance forms.”
“And trust papers.”
“No.”
Celeste paused the recording.
Then opened the blue folder.
She removed the authorization page.
Lydia stared at her signature.
It looked real.
Very real.
Her stomach turned.
“I didn’t sign this.”
Dorian said:
“You don’t remember every paper you sign.”
She looked at him.
“Don’t tell me what I remember.”
He fell silent.
Celeste resumed the footage.
On screen, Dorian said:
“You have always treated Lydia like she’s twelve.”
Celeste answered:
“This is not about Lydia’s maturity.”
“It’s always about control with you.”
“Then explain Northstar.”
Dorian laughed.
“I don’t have to explain my finances to you.”
“You do when you attempt to move trust assets.”
“They’re Lydia’s.”
“They will be.”
“They are hers now.”
“They are held under restrictions her father wrote.”
Dorian leaned forward.
“Her father is dead.”
Present-day Lydia flinched.
Her father, Jonathan Ashford, had died four years earlier.
She still hated hearing people reduce him to a legal obstacle.
On video, Celeste’s expression hardened.
“He created those restrictions because he believed inherited wealth makes people vulnerable to pressure.”
Dorian smiled coldly.
“You mean husbands.”
“I mean anyone.”
“You never liked me.”
“That is irrelevant.”
“No. It isn’t.”
He stepped closer.
“Because tomorrow, you’re going to make Lydia choose.”
Celeste remained still.
“Choose what?”
“Her husband or her mother.”
Present-day Lydia whispered:
“Oh my God.”
Marcus stared at Dorian.
The footage continued.
Celeste said:
“I’m not asking her to choose anyone.”
“You’re freezing the transfer.”
“Yes.”
“You’re going to tell her I forged the authorization.”
“I’m going to tell her the signature failed verification.”
Dorian stopped.
That detail was new even to present-day Dorian.
He looked at Celeste.
She watched him carefully.
On screen, he asked:
“What verification?”
“The family office ran it this afternoon.”
“Without telling Lydia?”
“The document was already suspicious.”
His voice became sharper.
“You went behind our backs.”
“I protected an account.”
“You interfered in our marriage.”
Celeste sighed.
“Dorian, if Lydia knowingly wants to invest in Northstar after seeing every document, I will not stop her.”
“You’ll delay.”
“I will insist she sees the truth first.”
That word.
Truth.
It seemed to anger him.
Dorian stepped close to Celeste.
“Do you know what Lydia says about you?”
Present-day Lydia’s eyes closed briefly.
Celeste on screen did not react.
“She says you never trust her.”
Dorian continued.
“She says you have to control every room.”
Celeste looked at him.
“She told you that?”
“Yes.”
“When she was angry?”
“Does that make it untrue?”
“No.”
Celeste’s answer surprised Lydia.
“I have controlled too much.”
Dorian seemed thrown too.
Then Celeste continued:
“That does not make this transfer legitimate.”
His smile vanished.
“I can make her hate you.”
Celeste’s face changed slightly.
Not fear.
Recognition.
“You already tried.”
Dorian went still.
Present-day Marcus whispered:
“What does that mean?”
The footage answered.
Celeste reached into the blue folder and removed printed emails.
“You told Lydia I blocked your mortgage application.”
“You did.”
“No. The bank rejected it because you failed to disclose a prior judgment.”
Dorian’s eyes hardened.
“You told her I prevented you from joining the Ashford board.”
“You did.”
“The governance committee rejected you unanimously.”
“You control them.”
“I abstained.”
Dorian stared.
Celeste placed another page down.
“And last month, Lydia received an email supposedly from me saying she was ‘financially irresponsible.’”
Present-day Lydia looked at her mother.
“You sent that.”
Celeste shook her head.
“No.”
Dorian moved suddenly.
“Turn this off.”
Marcus stepped in front of him.
“No.”
Dorian stared at him.
“Move.”
“No.”
On screen, Celeste said:
“The email originated from an account created three days earlier.”
Dorian’s face was now pale.
“Anyone could do that.”
“Yes.”
Celeste looked directly at him.
“But the recovery phone number ended in the same four digits as yours.”
Lydia turned toward her husband.
Dorian whispered:
“That proves nothing.”
Marcus laughed.
“It proves a lot.”
The recording continued.
Dorian stood inches from Celeste.
His voice became quiet.
“You’re going to lose her.”
Celeste said:
“If Lydia walks away from me because I tell her the truth, I’ll survive it.”
Dorian smiled.
“What if she walks away because she thinks you attacked me?”
Present-day Lydia stopped breathing.
On screen, Celeste frowned.
“What?”
Dorian stepped backward.
Reached for his collar.
RIP.
Lydia covered her mouth.
He dragged both hands through his hair.
Then looked directly at Celeste.
And smiled.
“You should’ve signed.”
Then he screamed:
“LYDIA! HELP ME!”
Celeste paused the footage.
Nobody moved.
Dorian stared at the floor.
Lydia looked at him as if she had never seen him before.
“You planned it.”
He shook his head.
“Lydia—”
“You planned to accuse my mother of assault.”
“I was desperate.”
Marcus stepped forward.
Dorian backed away.
Celeste said:
“Marcus.”
Her son stopped.
She looked at Lydia.
“This is your marriage.”
Lydia laughed once.
It sounded broken.
“No.”
She looked at Dorian.
“This is evidence.”
Then something changed in Dorian.
His panic hardened.
“If you want evidence…”
He looked at Celeste.
“…ask her why she was investigating me before we were even married.”
Lydia frowned.
Celeste’s face became still.
Dorian saw it.
And smiled.
“There.”
He pointed.
“She has secrets too.”
Lydia slowly turned toward her mother.
“Mom?”
May you like
For the first time that night, Celeste did not answer immediately.
And Dorian realized he still had one card left.
Related Stories
