Chapter 3 - the child at the locked door
Sophie returned from the dress fitting unusually quiet.
Celeste entered the drawing room behind her, carrying several garment bags.
“The tailor fixed the hem,” she said. “She will look beautiful.”
Evelyn knelt in front of Sophie.
“Can you go upstairs and choose which shoes you want to wear at the rehearsal?”
Sophie nodded and left.
The moment she disappeared, Evelyn placed the silver folder on the table.
Celeste did not even pretend to be surprised.
“Your father showed you.”
“I found it in his office.”
“That was not your property.”
“It has my name on every page.”
“It is a contingency plan.”
“For what?”
Celeste removed her gloves one finger at a time.
“For reality.”
“My reality does not include giving Preston control of my company.”
“Vale International is not simply your company.”
“Grandmother left me fifty-one percent.”
“Because she was angry with your father.”
“She trusted me.”
“She wanted to punish us.”
Evelyn tapped the guardianship clause.
“And Sophie?”
Celeste’s expression cooled.
“You have sacrificed six years of your life for that child.”
“She is my daughter.”
“She is Nora’s daughter.”
“She became mine when Nora disappeared.”
Celeste looked toward the staircase.
“You never allowed yourself to ask whether raising her was destroying your chance at a normal life.”
“My life is not being destroyed.”
“You canceled business trips. You left meetings when her school called. You ended two relationships because she did not trust the men.”
“She was grieving.”
“She was two.”
“She still lost her mother.”
“And now you are finally marrying someone willing to accept the situation.”
Evelyn thought about Sophie hiding behind her in the service hall.
“Is Preston accepting her?”
“He is trying.”
“Did you give him the key to Room 17?”
For the first time, Celeste’s confidence slipped.
“What key?”
“The one he was holding this morning.”
Celeste crossed the room and poured herself water.
“Perhaps your father gave it to him.”
“He said he didn’t.”
“Your father forgets things.”
“Not locked rooms.”
Celeste’s hand tightened around the glass.
Evelyn studied her.
“Who was Preston speaking to?”
“I have no idea.”
“Why did you sign the appendix?”
“Because your father asked me to witness it.”
“It was created to steal my voting rights.”
“It was created to prevent you from making emotional decisions that could damage thousands of employees.”
“My daughter is not an emotional decision.”
Celeste turned toward her.
“That child holds ten percent of Nora’s trust. If anything happens to you, the trust falls under court supervision. The board cannot function with a child controlling a significant block of shares.”
“Sophie does not control anything.”
“Not yet.”
The words stayed between them.
Evelyn had known Nora created a trust before her disappearance, but she had never been told it contained company shares.
“Why was this hidden from me?”
“Because Nora changed the trust three days before the accident.”
“Who helped her?”
“We do not know.”
The sound of something falling came from the hall.
Evelyn opened the door.
Sophie stood near the staircase. One of the garment bags had slipped from her hands.
Her face was pale.
May you like
“Mommy,” she whispered. “The lady from the computer called me Nora’s key.”
Celeste’s glass shattered against the floor.
