Chapter 2 - The Woman Celeste Erased
Ethan moved first.
He stepped between Celeste and Evelyn.
“Someone needs to tell me what is happening.”
Evelyn looked past him toward Leah.
“You contacted me?”
Leah nodded.
Celeste spun toward her.
“You brought her here?”
“I asked her to meet me.”
“You had no right.”
Leah almost replied, but Evelyn did it for her.
“She had every right to ask questions about the woman living in her home.”
“This isn’t your home,” Celeste said.
“No. Apparently it isn’t yours either, yet you’ve already been discussing what happens to it when Ethan dies.”
Ethan flinched.
“Enough.”
He pointed toward the kitchen.
“Everybody inside.”
Celeste remained beside the broken speaker.
“I’m not participating in some ambush.”
Ethan stared at her.
“I just heard your voice discussing my will with a man I don’t recognize.”
“It’s out of context.”
“Then give me the context.”
Celeste hesitated.
That hesitation changed Ethan’s expression.
Leah noticed.
For three years, Celeste had survived confrontations by answering instantly. Explanations appeared before questions were finished.
Now there was nothing.
Inside, Evelyn placed her phone on the kitchen island.
Leah’s laptop sat nearby.
A progress icon showed the recording had synced to a protected cloud folder.
Ethan noticed it.
“You planned this.”
Leah swallowed.
“I planned a backup.”
“How long have you been recording?”
“Tonight was the first time.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“Ethan,” Evelyn said sharply, “your daughter is not the person who should be under interrogation.”
He looked ashamed.
Celeste entered last and closed the door.
“Don’t let her manipulate you.”
Evelyn laughed without humor.
“That sentence coming from you is almost impressive.”
Leah glanced between them.
“You two really haven’t spoken in years?”
“Seven years,” Evelyn said.
Celeste corrected her.
“Because I chose to protect myself.”
“From what?” Leah asked.
Celeste’s eyes flashed.
“None of your business.”
“It became my business when you discussed cutting me out of Dad’s will.”
“The draft does not cut you out.”
Ethan turned sharply.
“What draft?”
Silence.
He stared at his wife.
“What draft, Celeste?”
Her control slipped.
“You told Grant you were thinking about updating the estate plan.”
“Grant?”
Leah remembered the male voice.
“Is that the man on the recording?”
Celeste said nothing.
Ethan’s face tightened.
“Grant Holloway?”
Evelyn’s expression changed.
That frightened Leah more than anything.
Ethan noticed too.
“You know him?”
Evelyn pulled out one of the kitchen stools.
“I know the name.”
Celeste moved toward her.
“You don’t get to do this.”
Evelyn did not retreat.
“Grant Holloway worked with your father.”
Leah looked at Celeste.
“You said your dad owned a small insurance office.”
“He did.”
Evelyn’s eyes stayed on her daughter.
“He also stole money from clients.”
Ethan stared.
“What?”
Celeste laughed bitterly.
“And here we go.”
Evelyn continued.
“Twenty-three years ago, my husband Charles Vale was investigated for moving client funds through temporary accounts. Grant was a junior financial consultant working with him.”
“Charles was cleared,” Celeste said.
“No. Charles died before the civil case finished.”
Leah felt the room tightening around them.
“And Grant?”
“Vanished from our lives,” Evelyn said. “Until apparently now.”
Ethan pulled his phone from his pocket.
Celeste’s head snapped toward him.
“Who are you calling?”
“My estate attorney.”
“At ten at night?”
“Yes.”
She grabbed his wrist.
“Ethan, don’t.”
He looked down at her hand.
Slowly, she released him.
Leah had never seen her father look at Celeste that way.
Not furious.
Suspicious.
He called attorney Miriam Cole.
No answer.
He left a message asking her to freeze every pending change to his estate plan.
Celeste watched the entire time.
When he finished, she said quietly, “You’re humiliating me in front of your daughter.”
Leah almost corrected her.
Our daughter.
That was what Celeste used to say.
But apparently that language had always depended on who was listening.
Ethan turned toward Leah.
“Can you play the entire recording?”
“Yes.”
Leah touched the laptop.
Celeste lunged.
Evelyn intercepted her—not violently, merely stepping between Celeste and the computer.
“That would be mistake number two tonight.”
Celeste froze.
Ethan looked at Leah.
“Play it.”
The recording began eleven minutes before the phone entered the fire.
At first there was only wind.
Then Celeste.
“Grant, stop calling me here.”
A man responded.
“You’re running out of time.”
“For what?”
“The trust amendment.”
Ethan leaned closer.
Then Grant said something that made Evelyn grip the edge of the counter.
“You promised this would be finished before Evelyn resurfaced.”
The recording continued.
But no one in the kitchen was listening to the will anymore.
They were all looking at Evelyn.
Ethan spoke first.
“Resurfaced?”
Evelyn’s face had gone gray.
Leah whispered, “What does he mean?”
May you like
Evelyn looked directly at Celeste.
“I think your stepmother knew I was coming long before you contacted me.”
