Chapter 12 - The Announcement She Feared
Two weeks before the restaurant dinner, Adrian had undergone a cardiac evaluation.
His doctor told him the condition was stable.
The scare changed him.
He began reviewing his estate and company succession plan.
For years, Celeste assumed she would control the Vale empire after his death.
Instead, Adrian decided to transfer majority voting power into an employee trust.
The announcement was scheduled for the morning after the dinner.
Once signed, Celeste could inherit personal property but never control the companies.
Martin informed her immediately.
That was why the poisoning could not wait.
If Adrian died before the documents were signed, the old will would govern.
If he survived one more day, her plan collapsed.
Investigators also found Celeste had been secretly giving Adrian medication that worsened his fatigue.
She wanted his declining health to make a sudden death appear natural.
The poison in the sea bass was meant to finish the process.
Victor accepted a plea agreement requiring full testimony.
Vivian was charged with attempted assault on Noah and conspiracy.
Graham faced charges for kidnapping Marissa, financial crimes, and his role in Daniel’s death.
Martin was charged with fraud, obstruction, and conspiracy.
Celeste remained silent after her arrest.
Then she learned Noah had been confirmed as Adrian’s biological grandson through DNA testing.
She demanded to speak with Adrian.
He refused.
She sent him a message through her attorney.
Lily was not as innocent as you think.
Adrian nearly ignored it.
Quinn advised him not to engage.
But the statement troubled him.
The original ledger contained one entry in Lily’s handwriting approving a transfer of $400,000.
Celeste’s attorney planned to use it to claim Lily had participated in the fraud.
Adrian knew there had to be an explanation.
Rosa remembered that Lily once mentioned an emergency account created to protect employees.
They searched Daniel’s surviving papers.
Inside an old tax folder, they found a receipt showing the $400,000 had been moved into a legal defense fund for workers whose pensions Celeste intended to raid.
Lily had not stolen it.
She had protected it.
But proving that required the testimony of the fund’s original trustee.
The trustee had disappeared ten years earlier.
His name was Samuel Price.
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And according to a recent death record, Samuel Price had died the previous month.
👉 Celeste had found the one transaction that could stain Lily’s name—but before his death, Samuel Price had left behind a witness no one expected.
