Chapter 6 - Celeste Was Selling Everyone OutPeter Weller met Evelyn and Malcolm at dawn.
He looked exhausted.
Fifty-two.
Expensive suit.
No tie.
The resemblance to Charles was immediate.
“My father thinks Hawthorne belongs to our family,” Peter said.
“Does it?” Evelyn asked.
“I don’t know.”
Good answer.
“He has documents.”
“So do we.”
Peter nodded.
“But Celeste approached him two years ago.”
“Before Andrew died?”
“Yes.”
Evelyn felt something tighten.
“What did she say?”
“That she married into the Whitmore family without initially knowing the full land history.”
“Do you believe that?”
“No.”
Neither did Evelyn.
Peter continued.
“She told my father Andrew was considering selling portions of the estate.”
“He wasn’t.”
“I know.”
“Then?”
“She said she could help recover it legally.”
“In exchange?”
“Ten percent.”
Malcolm frowned.
“Ten percent of land?”
“Value.”
Large.
“What changed?”
“After Andrew died, she proposed something else.”
Peter placed a document on the table.
An agreement between Celeste and a private-development consortium called Northlake Urban Partners.
If Celeste successfully removed Hawthorne’s preservation restrictions and delivered clear title, Northlake would buy the estate for $46 million.
Celeste would receive an $8 million consulting and settlement fee.
Ashcombe would get approximately $12 million for Charles’s claimed interest.
The remainder would satisfy legal claims and transfer costs.
Evelyn stared.
“She’s selling both families.”
Peter nodded.
“My father thinks Ashcombe becomes permanent owner.”
“He doesn’t know about Northlake?”
“No.”
“Why tell me?”
Peter looked ashamed.
“Because I found this yesterday.”
“Did you confront Celeste?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
“That my father is old and sentimental.”
Evelyn felt disgust.
“And you?”
“She offered me two million to stay quiet.”
“What did you say?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Peter laughed once.
“My wife asked whether I wanted our children to inherit money from something we knew was fraudulent.”
That ended it.
Malcolm studied the contract.
“Northlake requires Madison’s beneficiary restriction removed.”
“Yes.”
“Which explains the parentage petition.”
“And Ashcombe title confirmed.”
“Yes.”
Evelyn leaned back.
“So Celeste’s plan is: prove Madison isn’t biological, invalidate the preservation restriction, transfer Hawthorne to Ashcombe under Charles’s old claim, then sell it to Northlake.”
Peter nodded.
“And she gets eight million.”
“Yes.”
“What does Grant Mercer get?”
“Legal fee plus one percent.”
“Charles?”
“Believes he gets family land back.”
Peter looked down.
“My father doesn’t know she plans to sell immediately.”
Evelyn felt anger soften into something else.
Charles might still be participating in fraud.
But he may also be manipulated.
“Does Charles know the Andrew signature is forged?”
Peter hesitated.
“I don’t know.”
“Ask.”
“He won’t speak to me now.”
“Why?”
“He thinks I’m betraying Rebecca.”
Rebecca Weller.
Celeste’s grandmother.
The woman excluded from the original land agreement.
Family loyalty again.
Malcolm said:
“If Celeste’s claim has merit, Charles could pursue it without fraudulent signatures.”
“Yes.”
Peter nodded.
“That’s what I told him.”
“What did he say?”
“That courts protected Thomas for forty years.”
Maybe Charles believed fraud was the only way to correct old fraud.
Dangerous logic.
Evelyn asked:
“Where is Celeste now?”
“Your house.”
Not for long.
Police had interviewed her but not arrested her yet.
The child-abuse investigation was active.
The financial case was growing.
Evelyn planned to remove Madison from Hawthorne immediately.
Then Peter added:
“Be careful.”
“With what?”
“Northlake.”
“What about them?”
“They’ve already spent millions preparing the site.”
Evelyn stared.
“How?”
“Engineering.”
“Without access?”
“Celeste gave them access at night.”
The new security company.
Of course.
Surveyors may have entered under maintenance pretexts.
Tree mapping.
Road access.
Utility studies.
Northlake expected the sale to happen.
This was not theoretical.
“What happens if it fails?”
Peter looked uneasy.
“They lose a lot.”
“Do you think they would hurt anyone?”
“No.”
Then:
“But I think they will fight.”
Good.
Keep reality where evidence supported it.
Legal and financial pressure was enough.
At nine that morning, the family-court hearing began.
Evelyn sat beside Madison.
Celeste appeared remotely with counsel.
Charles Weller appeared too.
Peter had warned Evelyn he might.
The judge addressed the DNA issue first.
The lab result had arrived.
Sealed.
Madison gripped Evelyn’s hand.
Celeste watched without expression.
The judge opened the report.
Then paused.
Evelyn’s heart pounded.
“Based on the laboratory’s analysis…”
Madison stopped breathing.
“…the probability that Andrew Whitmore was Madison Whitmore’s biological father is 99.997 percent.”
Madison’s shoulders collapsed.
She cried.
Evelyn pulled her close.
Across the screen, Celeste went white.
Not surprised.
Terrified.
That was strange.
If she expected Madison not to be Andrew’s daughter, why fear a positive result beyond losing the petition?
Then Charles Weller’s attorney stood.
“Your Honor, we request examination of sample integrity.”
The judge frowned.
“On what basis?”
The attorney hesitated.
Celeste looked furious.
Then blurted:
“Because that wasn’t the sample they were supposed to test.”
Silence.
Everyone turned.
Evelyn stared.
The judge leaned forward.
“Mrs. Whitmore, what did you just say?”
Celeste realized.
Too late.
She had revealed something much worse.
There had been another sample.
May you like
One she expected to produce a different result.
Which meant someone had tried to manipulate the DNA test.
Related Stories
