Chapter 8 - Jonathan’s Old EnemyGabriel Cross had been one of Jonathan Ashford’s closest friends.
That was the part Lydia had never known.
Celeste brought another file from the cabinet.
Older.
Brown edges.
Paper instead of digital printouts.
A photograph fell out.
Jonathan.
Gabriel.
Both younger.
Standing beside a sailboat.
Lydia picked it up.
“Dad never mentioned him.”
“He stopped saying his name.”
“Why?”
Celeste sat.
“Because he blamed himself.”
“For what?”
“Gabriel’s collapse.”
Marcus frowned.
“Business collapse?”
“Yes.”
Seven years earlier, Gabriel ran a private investment fund called Cross Meridian.
Jonathan invested three million personally.
Within months, he noticed valuations that didn’t match underlying assets.
He asked questions.
Gabriel told him the discrepancies were temporary.
Jonathan kept asking.
Eventually he hired an outside auditor.
The audit uncovered inflated values, undisclosed loans, and money shifted between funds to cover losses.
“Fraud,” Marcus said.
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“Jonathan reported it.”
“To regulators?”
“Yes.”
Gabriel’s fund collapsed.
Investors sued.
He lost almost everything.
“Prison?” Lydia asked.
“No.”
Celeste looked uneasy.
“He cooperated. Settled some matters. Paid penalties.”
“What happened to him?”
“He died two years later.”
Lydia’s face changed.
“How?”
“Heart attack.”
Dorian watched her.
“Evan believes your father killed him.”
Celeste looked sharply at him.
“With an audit?”
“By destroying him.”
Lydia sat.
Now Evan’s campaign had emotional fuel.
Not only greed.
Revenge.
“Did Dad know Evan blamed him?”
“Yes.”
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
Lydia stared at her mother.
“You knew Evan was Gabriel’s son when I married Dorian?”
“No.”
Dorian frowned.
“You investigated me.”
“Not Evan’s entire family tree.”
Celeste continued.
“I learned the connection six months ago.”
Marcus looked at her.
“The email.”
“Yes.”
“When I showed you Ashford Access.”
“You told me it was probably spam.”
“I didn’t want you confronting Dorian before I knew enough.”
Marcus laughed bitterly.
“Again.”
Celeste closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
She didn’t defend it.
Lydia asked:
“What did you do?”
“I hired forensic accountants.”
“Without telling us.”
“Yes.”
“What did they find?”
“Northstar.”
“The $6.8 million.”
“Yes.”
“And the signature.”
“Yes.”
“What else?”
Celeste hesitated.
Dorian smiled.
Lydia snapped:
“Mom.”
Celeste took another document.
“Evan has been buying minority interests in companies connected to Ashford suppliers.”
Marcus sat straighter.
“How many?”
“Seven.”
“Why?”
“We don’t know.”
“Influence?”
“Possibly.”
Marcus shook his head.
“That could let him pressure vendor contracts.”
“Or create conflicts.”
Dorian said:
“He wants the board.”
Everyone turned.
Celeste narrowed her eyes.
“What?”
Dorian sighed.
“Evan never cared about one trust transfer.”
“You said he wanted twenty million.”
“He does.”
“But?”
“He wants Ashford Holdings embarrassed.”
Marcus stared.
“Why?”
“To make lenders nervous.”
“Then?”
“Drive valuation down.”
“Buy?”
“Not alone.”
Celeste went still.
“You know more.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Dorian looked at Lydia.
“I don’t know every name.”
“Who do you know?”
“A private equity group called Colburn Ridge.”
Marcus swore softly.
He knew them.
Aggressive.
Specialized in distressed family businesses.
“Evan has backing?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Enough.”
Celeste’s eyes hardened.
The plan was larger.
Evan wanted access to Lydia’s trust assets, but also wanted to destabilize the Ashford family’s operating business.
A false assault scandal against Celeste would not only remove a trustee.
It could create public chaos.
Board uncertainty.
Media attention.
Questions about governance.
Then leaked financial irregularities from Marcus’s bad investments.
Then perhaps allegations that Lydia’s inheritance was controlled improperly.
A family implosion.
Market weakness.
Opportunity.
Lydia stared at Dorian.
“You knew all of that?”
“No.”
“How much?”
“I knew Evan wanted your mother discredited.”
“And Marcus compromised.”
“Yes.”
“And me separated from both.”
“Yes.”
“You knew he wanted the company weakened.”
“I figured it out recently.”
“When?”
“Two weeks ago.”
“What did you do?”
Dorian looked down.
“Nothing.”
Lydia almost laughed.
“Nothing.”
“I was trying to finish the transfer and get out.”
“Get out of what?”
“Evan.”
“By giving him six-point-eight million dollars and helping destroy my family?”
“I thought if he got what he wanted from me—”
Celeste interrupted.
“He would stop.”
Dorian looked at her.
She did not say it cruelly.
That made it worse.
Celeste had likely seen Jonathan make the same mistake with Gabriel.
Trying to settle privately.
Trying to contain consequences.
Lydia asked:
“Why stage the assault tonight instead of just waiting for my birthday?”
Dorian’s face changed.
“Because Celeste scheduled a meeting tomorrow.”
Marcus looked at his mother.
“With who?”
“The independent trustees.”
Dorian nodded.
“And?”
Celeste answered:
“I intended to recommend freezing all extraordinary transfers until the forensic review finished.”
Marcus stared.
“Would that include my approvals?”
“Yes.”
He swallowed.
Dorian continued.
“Evan knew.”
“How?”
“I told him.”
“Of course.”
“He said tomorrow was the last chance.”
Lydia felt cold.
“What exactly did he tell you to do?”
Dorian hesitated.
Then took out his phone.
He opened a message.
Evan:
IF C.A. CANNOT ACT AS TRUSTEE TOMORROW, REVIEW DELAYS.
Another:
YOU KNOW WHAT LYDIA WILL BELIEVE.
Lydia stopped breathing.
Dorian had not invented the false accusation alone.
Evan had suggested a target.
Dorian had chosen the method.
Marcus said:
“Send those to me.”
Dorian laughed.
“No.”
Celeste said:
“You need a lawyer.”
Dorian looked at her.
“You’re helping me now?”
“No.”
Her voice stayed calm.
“I’m telling you that continuing to manipulate evidence will make your situation worse.”
Dorian stared.
Then his phone buzzed.
Everyone looked.
Evan.
One message.
DID IT WORK?
Dorian went pale.
Another appeared.
CALL ME BEFORE LYDIA SEES THE CAMERA.
Nobody spoke.
Then a third:
IF YOU FAILED, WE MOVE TO PLAN B.
Lydia stared at the screen.
“What is Plan B?”
Dorian’s face changed in a way that answered before he spoke.
“I don’t know.”
Celeste did not believe him.
May you like
Neither did Lydia.
And somewhere outside that study, Evan Cross had just learned his first plan had collapsed.
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