Chapter 14 - Nathan’s Betrayal
Police reached the old cutting facility thirty-seven minutes later.
Celeste was alive.
Barely conscious.
Locked inside a storage office.
No dramatic rescue.
No gunfight.
Martin was already gone.
But he had made another mistake.
The building’s old internal security system still recorded locally.
Nathan appeared on camera helping two men bring Celeste inside.
Then, twenty minutes later, Nathan returned alone.
He entered the storage room.
He gave her water.
And he loosened the restraints around her wrists.
He had participated.
Then he had panicked.
Nathan was finally discovering that betrayal feels different when you realize you’re also disposable.
Celeste was transported to a hospital under police protection.
By evening, she agreed to speak.
I stood outside her room before entering.
My cheek had faded from red to yellowish purple.
For the first time since the jewelry store, I touched it deliberately.
Then I stepped inside.
Celeste looked smaller without silk and makeup.
There was no smug smile.
No perfect posture.
Just exhaustion.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“That’s not enough.”
“I know.”
“You slept with my husband.”
“Yes.”
“You helped him fake documents.”
“Yes.”
“You knew my marriage was arranged.”
“Yes.”
Each answer cut.
I wanted excuses.
She didn’t give me any.
“Why?”
Her eyes filled.
“At first, because Eleanor told me I owed her.”
“Then?”
“Nathan made me believe we could escape Martin together.”
I laughed once.
“By stealing from me?”
“Yes.”
Her honesty was almost cruel.
“He said if we controlled enough shares, Martin couldn’t threaten us anymore.”
“So you thought becoming rich would erase what you did?”
“No.”
She looked at me.
“I thought being powerful would stop me from being afraid.”
That sounded exactly like my mother.
Different woman.
Same mistake.
Celeste told us Martin had ordered Nathan to finish the incapacity filing.
Nathan refused unless Martin guaranteed him permanent control of the company.
They argued.
Martin revealed he had no intention of honoring Nathan’s deal.
That was when Nathan turned.
“What about the witness signatures?” Maya asked.
Celeste swallowed.
“I signed them.”
“Did you witness Emma sign?”
“No.”
“Did you witness Eleanor?”
“No.”
“Jonathan?”
“No.”
Three admissions.
Three forged transactions weakened instantly.
Then I asked the question that mattered most.
“Who sabotaged my father’s plane?”
Celeste began shaking.
“I never saw anyone touch the aircraft.”
“But?”
“Martin called me the night before.”
“What did he say?”
“He asked whether Jonathan always took the same plane.”
My father looked at Maya.
Celeste continued.
“The next morning, Martin called Eleanor.”
“What did my mother say?”
Celeste stared at me.
“She said, ‘I wanted him frightened, not dead.’”
That supported my mother’s story.
Then Celeste said something none of us expected.
“There was someone else in Martin’s office that night.”
“Who?”
She whispered the name.
“Samuel Dent.”
The attorney who had supposedly died in the crash.
The man who never boarded.
Maya stared.
“Where is Samuel now?”
Celeste shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
My father did.
“He’s on the Carlisle board.”
I felt cold.
Not under the name Samuel Dent.
Under another name.
A man I had known for years.
May you like
The chairman who had always treated me like a daughter.
William Dane.
