Chapter 7 - THE WOMAN WHO CHOSE THE WIVES
Celeste Warren worked as a private image consultant.
She had introduced Lucas to Amanda at a charity auction.
Six years later, she arranged the gallery event where Lucas first met Willow.
It had not been accidental.
Celeste selected women for him.
Richard wanted wives who appeared intelligent and respectable but lacked enough family power to challenge the Sterlings.
Amanda’s family depended on Sterling construction contracts.
Willow’s father owned a neighborhood repair shop.
Both women seemed controllable.
Celeste remained Lucas’s mistress throughout both marriages.
In exchange, Richard paid her through consulting agreements.
She coached Lucas on how to charm each woman.
Amanda loved classical music.
Lucas learned the violin piece she mentioned on their first date.
Willow loved independent galleries.
Lucas appeared at the same exhibitions for three months.
He had not discovered her interests naturally.
He had been given a file.
Detective Brooks found Willow’s file inside Celeste’s condo after obtaining a warrant.
It contained photographs, school records, gallery plans, financial estimates, and notes about Michael.
FATHER PROUD.
LIKELY TO REJECT STERLING FAMILY.
ISOLATE DAUGHTER GRADUALLY.
A later entry read:
MICHAEL HOLDS TECH CLAIM.
MARRIAGE MAY PREVENT LITIGATION.
Willow stared at the sentence.
Her marriage had not only been about Lucas.
Richard had encouraged it to keep Michael silent.
Five years of dinners, anniversaries, and promises had been built partly as corporate risk management.
Michael read the file beside her.
“I am sorry.”
“You didn’t arrange this.”
“I knew Richard wanted Lucas close to you.”
“I believed it was because he feared the lawsuit.”
“You let me marry him anyway?”
“You loved him.”
“I thought warning you would make you defend him.”
“You were right.”
That truth hurt.
Michael had tried to question Lucas’s motives.
Willow accused him of judging the Sterling name.
Then she stopped answering calls.
Richard had used the distance perfectly.
Celeste was arrested for conspiracy, corporate theft, and unlawful surveillance.
She offered information in exchange for protection.
Lucas had ordered her to destroy Willow’s file after the anniversary.
She copied it instead.
“I knew the family would blame me eventually,” she said.
She was right.
Lucas released a statement claiming Celeste manipulated him through addiction and blackmail.
Richard accused her of inventing the wife-selection scheme.
Then Celeste produced audio of Richard giving instructions.
“Find Lucas someone respectable.”
“No old money.”
“No political family.”
“And make sure her father cannot afford a war.”
Michael listened without emotion.
May you like
Then he authorized his attorneys to release the first engineering demonstration video.
It showed Richard Sterling standing inside Donovan Auto Repair, watching Michael’s system save the prototype.
