Chapter 9 - What Celeste Took
Celeste had not stolen payroll.
She had stopped it.
There was a difference.
By the time I reached her condo downtown, Adrian had called me eleven times.
I ignored every one.
Celeste opened the door in sweatpants and an old Northwestern hoodie.
On her dining table were three banker boxes, a laptop, and a legal pad covered in handwriting.
"You moved payroll," I said.
"I blocked a transfer."
"From what?"
"Willow's account. Adrian has been routing emergency cash through my company because Blackwood's lender monitors distributions."
I stared at her.
"You knew?"
"I knew some of it."
"That's becoming your catchphrase."
"I deserve that."
She sat down.
"This morning he tried to move ninety-two thousand dollars from Willow to cover payroll. That money is what's left of my father's estate."
"And you stopped it."
"Yes."
"So employees don't get paid."
Her eyes flashed.
"Why is everyone else's paycheck automatically my inheritance?"
I stopped.
Because I had been about to tell her she should help.
Of course I had.
Adrian had trained all of us to step toward the fire he started.
Elise with the house.
Me with the condo.
Celeste with her inheritance.
Nate with his career.
Mara with her integrity.
The company survived because other people kept bleeding privately.
I sat across from her.
"You're right."
Celeste looked suspicious.
"That's it?"
"That's it."
She looked down at her hands.
"I married him because I thought that would make him choose me."
"Did it?"
"No. It just made me legally responsible for more of his paperwork."
Despite myself, I laughed.
She did too.
It lasted three seconds.
Then we remembered why we were there.
"What's in the boxes?" I asked.
"My money."
"That sounds portable."
"I mean records. Statements. Transfers. Notes. Every time he asked Willow to pay a Blackwood expense."
I tensed.
"Are you building a case?"
"I'm trying to understand what I signed."
That was different.
More honest.
She pushed a folder toward me.
"Look at this."
It was a vendor agreement I'd negotiated two years earlier with Bell & Finch Cabinetry.
My initials were on every page.
At the back was an assignment clause transferring the purchasing framework to Willow Consulting.
Dated six months ago.
"I never saw this."
"Neither did I."
"Your signature is on it."
"Digital. He had my DocuSign password."
I looked at her.
"You gave him your password?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
She smiled painfully.
"Because I was stupid."
"No."
I surprised both of us.
"Because you trusted your husband. That's not the same thing."
Her eyes filled.
She looked away before the tears fell.
"Don't make me like you."
"I have no plans to."
She laughed once.
Then my phone rang again.
This time I answered.
"What?"
Adrian's voice was ragged.
"The lender pulled the facility."
I stood.
"Why?"
"They found out about Celeste."
Celeste mouthed, Good.
"How?"
"I don't know."
I looked at the banker boxes.
"Maybe because you listed one woman as your wife while being married to another."
"Evelyn, stop. Listen to me. If Alder doesn't close tomorrow, it's over."
"Maybe it's already over."
"No."
The force in his voice surprised me.
Then he said something softer.
"Meet me at the office. Please."
I hesitated.
"Why?"
"Because I'm going to tell everyone the truth."
Celeste heard through the phone.
Her eyebrows rose.
Adrian continued.
"All of it."
I wanted to believe him.
That was the humiliating part.
Even then, after the ring and the wife and the dead wife and the house and my signature, some stupid three-year-old part of my heart still reacted to his voice.
"I'll come," I said.
Celeste grabbed my wrist after I hung up.
"Don't go alone."
I looked at her hand.
Then at her.
"Why?"
Her face had gone pale.
May you like
"Because when Adrian says all of it, he never means the same thing everybody else means."
