Chapter 14 - Celeste Comes to Boston
Celeste Hayes did not arrive like a fugitive.
She arrived like a woman attending a board meeting.
Cream suit.
Dark sunglasses.
No visible panic.
Federal agents met her at Logan Airport.
She was questioned for four hours and released because investigators lacked sufficient evidence to detain her.
That enraged Adrien.
It frightened Miranda.
Celeste checked into the Four Seasons.
Then she requested a meeting with Miranda.
“No,” Adrien said immediately.
They stood in the townhouse library while security discussed options.
Miranda looked at the handwritten note Celeste had sent.
Mrs. Calloway,
You deserve to hear the truth from someone who does not benefit from lying to you.
Thirty minutes.
Public location.
C.H.
“She wants something,” Miranda said.
“Yes. Access to you.”
“Or she wants to explain herself.”
“People who fake embryo transfers do not get the benefit of curiosity.”
“We don’t know she ordered it.”
“Victor said—”
“Victor also helped create this entire mess.”
Adrien paced once.
Miranda watched him.
“You’re scared.”
He stopped.
“Yes.”
The admission softened her.
“So am I.”
“Then don’t go.”
“I spent eight years letting fear of conflict decide what I said.”
“This is not conflict. This is potential criminal activity.”
“I know.”
She touched his hand.
“That’s why I won’t go alone.”
They chose a hotel restaurant filled with cameras and security.
Celeste arrived exactly on time.
She was fifty-one, elegant, composed, and far less warm than her photographs suggested.
Her eyes went directly to Miranda.
“So you’re the woman who complicated everything.”
Adrien’s expression hardened.
Miranda sat.
“That is not a promising opening.”
Celeste gave a small smile.
“Fair.”
She looked at Adrien.
“I assume you intend to stay.”
“Yes.”
“Very well.”
Celeste folded her hands.
“I did not threaten your fertility clinic.”
Miranda waited.
“But you asked Carver about my embryos.”
“Yes.”
Adrien leaned forward.
Celeste raised one finger.
“Let me finish.”
Miranda nodded.
“My husband spent twenty years obsessed with Julian.”
“Why?”
“Because he believes Julian stole his life.”
“That sounds dramatic.”
“It is.”
Celeste looked tired suddenly.
“Hayes men are exhausting.”
Despite herself, Miranda almost smiled.
“Nathan wanted the company. At first, I supported him.”
“You helped?”
“I introduced investors. Whitmore Capital was mine before our marriage.”
That mattered.
The shareholder position was hers.
“Nathan convinced me Julian was incompetent,” Celeste continued. “That Hayes Meridian would collapse eventually.”
“So you planned to force him out.”
“Yes.”
“And Santoro?”
Her face tightened.
“I knew nothing about the safety violations until after the deaths.”
“Do you expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
Celeste’s calm irritated Miranda.
“I expect investigators to verify it.”
“What about the embryos?”
Celeste looked at her.
“When the Bellmont investigation began, Nathan became afraid Julian might protect control through an heir.”
Miranda felt disgust.
“An heir.”
“Yes.”
“Not a child.”
Celeste lowered her gaze.
“That is how Nathan thinks.”
“And you?”
“I asked Carver whether stored embryos could legally affect the trust.”
“Why?”
“To understand the risk.”
Adrien spoke.
“Did you ask whether they could be moved?”
Celeste hesitated.
“Yes.”
Miranda’s blood turned cold.
Celeste quickly added, “Legally. Through court order.”
“You discussed moving embryos that were not yours.”
“Yes.”
“Do you hear yourself?”
Celeste looked ashamed for the first time.
“Yes.”
Miranda sat back.
“Who sent the fake containers?”
“I don’t know.”
“Convenient.”
“I came because I think Nathan escalated without telling me.”
“You just said Nathan didn’t threaten me.”
“I said he denied it.”
“That is different.”
“Yes.”
Celeste removed a small notebook from her bag.
Security shifted immediately.
She slid it across the table.
“Carver kept accounts.”
Adrien did not touch it.
“How do you have this?”
“He left it in London before disappearing.”
“Why bring it?”
“Because my husband is lying to me.”
Miranda stared.
“Welcome to the club.”
Celeste almost smiled.
Then she became serious.
“There is one payment I cannot explain.”
She opened to a marked page.
A transfer of $250,000.
Recipient coded MB-C.
Miranda frowned.
“What is MB-C?”
“I assumed Miranda Bennett Calloway.”
Adrien’s face hardened.
“Payment to whom?”
“A private security contractor.”
“For what?”
“Carver wrote two words.”
Miranda looked.
CONTINGENCY BRIDE.
She felt cold.
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.”
At that exact moment, Julian was standing outside Victor Dane’s hospital room listening to a recorded phone call recovered from Victor’s cloud backup.
Carver’s voice.
Nathan’s voice.
Then a third voice.
Female.
Unknown.
If she marries Calloway, the leverage shifts.
Nathan asked, What leverage?
The woman answered.
The marriage gives us access to Bellmont through her.
If necessary, we manufacture a reason to separate them.
Julian stopped the recording.
“Who is she?”
Victor looked pale.
“I don’t know.”
“You worked with these people for years.”
“I never met her.”
Julian replayed the voice.
Something about it felt familiar.
Not close.
Not personal.
But heard before.
Then it happened.
Three words in the recording.
Don’t be ridiculous.
Julian froze.
He had heard that exact clipped pronunciation hundreds of times.
At board dinners.
Charity events.
Christmas receptions.
He stared at Victor.
“I know that voice.”
“Who?”
Julian picked up his phone and called Miranda.
She answered.
“What?”
“Where are you?”
“With Celeste.”
“Leave.”
Miranda’s stomach tightened.
“Why?”
“Because Celeste is not the woman behind it.”
“Then who?”
May you like
Julian’s voice went quiet.
“My mother.”
