Chương 5
“Company counsel did.”
“Company counsel works for the company.”
“My husband is the company right now.”
Naomi’s expression remained neutral.
“That sentence is probably why you need your own lawyer.”
Through Naomi, Willa agreed to speak with Celeste’s defense attorney under limited conditions.
Celeste would not attend.
Adrian did.
The interview took place in a conference room with gray walls and an oval table polished to a shine. Adrian sat at the far end. Without Celeste beside him, he looked older than Willa remembered. His hair had begun to gray at the temples.
He had been standing behind Celeste when she pushed Willa.
Willa had spent weeks wondering why he had not moved.
“You received an anonymous message before the gala,” Adrian said after the formal questions began.
Willa frowned.
“No.”
“Celeste did.”
He slid a printed screenshot across the table.
The message had been sent from an unknown number ninety minutes before the opening ceremony.
Your sister-in-law found Miriam’s transition agreement. She plans to use it to force Nathan out and take control through the child. Ask her about the vault key before she leaves.
Willa read it twice.
“Take control through the child?”
Adrian folded his hands.
“Celeste interpreted that as a threat to redirect family voting rights toward you and your baby.”
“That makes no sense.”
“Family fear rarely requires a complete sentence.”
“Who sent it?”
“We don’t know.”
Naomi touched the page. “Has this been provided to law enforcement?”
“Yes.”
“Metadata?”
“The number was prepaid. The message included a photograph.”
Adrian placed another page on the table.
It showed a text exchange between Willa and Nathan.
Willa recognized it immediately.
Three weeks earlier, after finding the key, she had written:
If Miriam moved control away from both of you, what happens to the baby’s shares?
Nathan had replied:
There are no baby’s shares. Stop trying to solve things you don’t understand.
The anonymous sender had cropped out Nathan’s response.
Only Willa’s question remained.
Willa stared at the image.
“I never sent this to anyone.”
“Where was the conversation stored?” Naomi asked.
“My phone.”
“Any synced devices?”
Willa pictured the tablet in Nathan’s library. She used it for recipes, travel, and prenatal appointments. Her messages appeared on it whenever she forgot to turn off synchronization.
“Yes.”
Adrian watched her face.
“Who had access?”
“My husband.”
No one spoke for several seconds.
Willa pushed the papers away.
“Why did Celeste believe this?”
“Because she had spent eight months watching Nathan consolidate voting proxies after Miriam’s death,” Adrian said. “Because she believed he was using your pregnancy to secure sympathetic family support. Because the message contained details not known publicly.”
“She could have called me.”
“She did.”
“No, she didn’t.”
Adrian looked at his attorney.
The attorney opened a folder and produced call logs.
Celeste had called Willa twice in the week before the gala.
Both calls had lasted less than three seconds.
Blocked.
Willa’s phone did not block Celeste.
Nathan managed their family phone plan.
Naomi asked, “Did Celeste send messages?”
“Three,” Adrian said. “All show delivered.”
Willa had never seen them.
“What did they say?”
Adrian gave her copies.
We need to discuss what you found.
Nathan is lying to both of us.
Do not bring documents to the launch. Call me.
Willa’s throat tightened.
At the gala, she had believed Celeste ignored her earlier attempts to meet. Celeste had believed Willa intended to ambush her in public.
Someone had closed every private door and left them facing each other at the top of a staircase.
Adrian looked down at his hands.
“I should have stopped her,” he said.
Willa’s eyes moved to him.
“You were beside her.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“I thought she was reaching for your phone.”
“She used both hands.”
“It happened quickly.”
“So did my fall.”
He accepted that without defending himself.
Willa asked, “Did she mean to push me down the stairs?”
“No.”
“You answered quickly.”
“I watched her afterward.”
“That tells you what she regretted, not what she intended.”
Adrian’s face tightened.
Naomi intervened. “We’re not here to litigate the assault.”
“No,” Willa said. “We’re here because someone wanted us to do it for them.”
At home that night, Willa checked the tablet.
It was gone.
Nathan said he had taken it to the office by mistake.
“Bring it back,” she said.
“It contains company email.”
“It contains my messages.”
“You can access those on your phone.”
“I want the device.”
He stood in the kitchen doorway, still wearing his coat.
Linda sat at the island peeling an orange. She did not look up.
Nathan said, “Why?”
“Because someone photographed my conversation with you and sent it to Celeste.”
He went still.
“Celeste’s lawyers showed me.”
“You met with them?”
“With my attorney.”
“You hired an attorney without telling me?”
“I’m telling you now.”
“Who?”
“Naomi Bell.”
Nathan laughed once.
“What?”
“She represented a former executive who sued us.”
“That sounds like experience.”
“She has an agenda.”
“Everyone has one.”
Linda separated an orange segment from the rest.
Nathan looked at her.
“Could we have privacy?”
“No,” Willa said.
His attention returned to his wife.
“The screenshot could have come from anywhere.”
“It came from the tablet.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Then bring it home.”
“I will have IT image it first.”
“Why?”
“To prove whether it was accessed.”
“Bring it home now.”
Nathan’s jaw tightened.
Willa had seen that expression on Celeste at the top of the stairs. The Rowe resemblance was strongest when they were denied obedience.
“The device belongs to the company,” he said.
“No. You gave it to me for Christmas.”
“Purchased through the company.”
“With a card signed by you.”
“This is ridiculous.”
“Yes. Bring me my ridiculous Christmas present.”
Nathan looked toward Linda again.
She ate another orange segment.
He lowered his voice.
“You’re letting outsiders turn us against each other.”
Willa rested both hands on the edge of the counter.
“Did you send Celeste the message?”
“No.”
May you like
“Did you block her calls?”
“No.”
