Chapter 14 - Dinner With No Witnesses
Celeste chose Lemaire.
Their old table.
The restaurant where Graham proposed.
That was not accidental.
She wore the navy dress he once told her made him forget entire conversations.
Also not accidental.
For the first twenty minutes, she did not mention Ruth.
They spoke about London.
A disastrous vacation in Napa.
The dog they had during their first year of marriage.
She made him laugh once.
The laugh hurt.
Then she said, “I invested money without telling you.”
There it was.
Graham set down his wine.
“How much?”
“Too much.”
“With Adrian Cole?”
Her eyes widened.
Only a fraction.
“You know Adrian?”
“I know the name.”
She looked at the table.
“I met him through a charity board.”
“What happened?”
“He had an investment opportunity. I thought I could make something that was mine.”
“Seven hundred eighty-four thousand dollars.”
Her face changed.
“You went through my accounts.”
“Our accounts.”
“That money was mine too.”
“Yes.”
The calmness unsettled her.
She continued.
“The fund collapsed.”
“And the guarantee?”
She looked up sharply.
Graham had not told her he knew.
“It isn’t what you think.”
“I don’t know what I think.”
“I signed a backstop agreement.”
“For how much?”
“Two million.”
Graham went still.
Celeste began crying.
This time he thought the tears might be real.
“I panicked.”
“So you needed Ruth’s trust assets.”
“No.”
“Then why is Adrian involved in Calloway’s offer?”
Celeste stared.
For three seconds, her mask disappeared.
Then she leaned back.
“Ruth has been talking.”
Interesting.
Graham had not said Ruth told him about Adrian.
“You knew she knew him.”
Celeste realized the mistake.
“Of course. He approached the family.”
“No. He approached her.”
“Same thing.”
Graham watched her.
She knew too much.
Celeste reached for his hand.
“If the Calloway transaction had happened, everyone would have benefited.”
“Especially you.”
“I was trying to fix my mistake.”
“By declaring my mother incompetent?”
Her hand withdrew.
“That is insane.”
“Is it?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you have a certification form?”
Silence.
Other diners murmured around them.
Glassware clinked.
Celeste’s eyes hardened.
Then softened again.
“You’re recording me.”
He almost smiled.
“No.”
“You’re trying to trap me.”
“I’m having dinner with my wife.”
“Stop saying things like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you’re not already convinced.”
He leaned back.
“I’m giving you room to tell me the truth.”
Celeste laughed bitterly.
“You want the truth?”
“Yes.”
“Your mother hates me.”
“That isn’t the truth I asked for.”
“She has been trying to control our marriage for years.”
“She lives in a wheelchair and weighs a hundred pounds.”
“You think power disappears because someone gets old?”
The sentence came too quickly.
Too much resentment.
Graham filed it away.
Celeste lowered her voice.
“She would have destroyed us.”
“How?”
“She was going to change the trust.”
Graham’s heartbeat slowed.
“What?”
Celeste stopped.
He kept his face blank.
“What change?”
She realized.
He did not know.
Not until now.
Graham leaned forward.
“What was she going to change?”
Celeste stood.
“This was a mistake.”
He did not stop her.
She walked out.
At home, Ruth was awake.
Graham entered her room.
“Were you going to change your trust?”
Ruth looked at him for a long time.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To remove you as automatic successor trustee.”
The words landed like betrayal.
“Me?”
“Not because I distrusted you.”
“Then why?”
“Because I had begun to distrust the influence around you.”
Graham looked away.
“Celeste knew.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I told her.”
He turned.
“Why would you do that?”
Ruth’s face became grave.
May you like
“Because before I understood how far she would go, I still believed shame might stop her.”
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