Chapter 6: What Celeste Wanted
I did not hang up.
That surprised me later — that my first instinct was not to end the call but to stay on the line and find out what she wanted.
"I'm listening," I said.
"I know how this looks." Celeste's voice was measured.
Careful in the way that people are careful when they've rehearsed.
"I need you to know that I did not know about Noah.
I did not know your son was sick."
"He posted photographs of the two of you the night my son was in intensive care."
"I know."
"He captioned one of them 'Finally free.'"
"I know that too." A pause.
"I saw it the same time you did.
I was standing right next to him."
I waited.
"I want you to know that I got on a plane the next morning," she said.
"I came home alone.
Daniel stayed."
"That's not the part I'm interested in, Celeste."
"I know what the part you're interested in is." Her voice shifted.
Still controlled, but something underneath it now.
"The asset restructuring.
The firm he visited.
The accounts."
My hand tightened on the phone.
"How do you know about that?"
"Because he told me." She stopped.
"Grace, Daniel told me six weeks ago that he was planning to leave you after the baby was born.
He said the marriage had been over for two years.
He said you had a prenuptial agreement that protected him and that you would walk away with almost nothing."
"There is no prenuptial agreement."
Silence.
"He told you there was a prenuptial agreement," I said.
"He showed me a document."
"What did it look like?"
"It had both your signatures.
It was dated three years ago." Her voice was no longer smooth.
"Grace, I have a copy of it.
He gave it to me so I would understand why he couldn't just — why the process would take time."
I stood up from the bed.
Noah stirred in the bassinet and I put one hand on his back without thinking.
"Celeste.
That document is a forgery."
The silence on her end lasted long enough that I could hear her breathing change.
"Are you certain?"
"I have never signed a prenuptial agreement.
There was never one drafted.
There was never a conversation about one." I kept my voice level.
"He fabricated it.
Possibly to manage you.
Possibly for other reasons.
But it does not exist."
"Oh God." The rehearsed composure cracked.
Just slightly.
Just enough.
"He said — he told me you were the one who had insisted on it.
That you came from money and your family required it."
"My family is two schoolteachers from Worcester.
We have never had money to protect."
Another long pause.
"I have the document," she said.
"I have emails where he references it.
I have text messages going back four months."
"Celeste." I chose the next words slowly.
"Are you willing to provide those to my attorney?"
She didn't answer immediately.
I could hear her moving — footsteps, a door, the sound of somewhere quieter.
"He's going to say I'm doing this out of anger," she said.
"He's going to say I'm a woman scorned."
"Let him say it.
Evidence doesn't have a motive."
"He has people, Grace.
He has a lawyer who has worked for his family for twenty years.
He has —"
"I have a recording of his mother directing the asset plan.
I have photographs, timestamps, and location data from the trip.
I have nineteen unanswered calls logged on my phone from the night my son nearly d*ed." I paused.
"And now I may have a forged legal document.
What he has is a story.
Stories lose to evidence."
She was quiet for a moment.
"I'll send everything to your attorney tonight," she said.
"All of it."
"Thank you."
"Grace." Her voice was different now.
Smaller.
"I'm sorry.
I know that doesn't —"
"Send the files," I said.
"That's what matters right now."
I ended the call and stood in the dark bedroom with my hand still on Noah's back.
His breathing was slow and even.
The house was quiet.
My phone buzzed.
Richard, texting: *Plate came back.
Car is registered to a private investigations firm.
Daniel hired a PI.
He's been watching the house.*
I read it twice.
Then I typed back: *He's watching because he's afraid.
Afraid means he knows what we have.*
Richard's reply was immediate: *Celeste Morgan just sent our office forty-seven files.
Grace — there's a forged prenup and there's something else.
May you like
Call me in the morning.
It's worse than we thought.*
