Chapter 6: The Mask Falls
Celeste tried to deny everything.
She called Nora bitter. She called Theo corrupt. She called Olivia greedy.
But every lie became weaker than the one before it.
Theo played a restored security video. The footage was old and slightly blurred, but clear enough to show Celeste entering Olivia’s room years ago with a small jewelry box in her hand.
A few minutes later, she left without it.
Damon appeared on the same footage, looked toward the camera, and signaled to someone off-screen.
Celeste turned on him.
“You told me those files were deleted!”
The moment she said it, the room froze.
Olivia looked at her calmly.
“Thank you for confirming the footage is real.”
Damon’s face twisted in panic.
Celeste glared at her son, but Damon was no longer smiling. For the first time, he seemed afraid of the woman he had helped.
Then he did the one thing no one expected.
He pulled out his phone.
“I recorded you too,” Damon said quietly.
Celeste stared at him.
“What did you say?”
Damon swallowed hard.
“You promised me shares. You promised me a place in the company. But the lawyer just said my name is nowhere. You used me.”
He handed the phone to the investigators.
On it were recordings of Celeste discussing hidden transfers, the fake will, and the plan to keep Edmund isolated until she controlled everything.
Celeste’s perfect image shattered.
The graceful wife.
The caring stepmother.
The elegant lady of Blackwood Manor.
All of it disappeared.
In her place stood a woman who had built an empire out of lies.
Edmund, weak but conscious, looked at her with tears in his eyes.
“I trusted you,” he said. “And you turned my own home into a prison.”
Celeste shook her head.
“I did everything for this family.”
Olivia stepped forward.
“No,” she said. “You did everything for yourself.”
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Outside, police sirens sounded near the gate.
This time, Celeste had nowhere left to hide.
