Chapter 1 - “Your Son Is Already Obsessed With Me”“Stop looking at me like that.”
Celeste Warren smiled as she slowly closed the glass door behind us.
Music from my son’s engagement party faded into the background.
Through the walls of the conservatory, I could still see nearly two hundred guests drinking champagne beneath white orchids and crystal chandeliers.
My son Daniel was somewhere among them.
Celebrating the woman he planned to marry in twelve days.
Celeste stepped closer to me.
Thirty-one years old.
Beautiful.
Elegant.
Educated at Wharton.
Perfect posture.
The future Mrs. Daniel Hale.
Everyone loved her.
Especially Daniel.
“What do you want, Celeste?” I asked.
She tilted her head.
Then smiled.
Not the smile she used around my son.
This one had no warmth.
“Your son is already completely obsessed with me.”
I stared at her.
She continued.
“As soon as I marry him, the company will be mine.”
My fingers tightened around the stem of my champagne glass.
Celeste leaned closer.
“And when I’m finished…”
Her voice dropped.
“…your family will have absolutely nothing.”
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
She expected shock.
Perhaps fear.
Instead, I asked:
“Why are you telling me this?”
She laughed.
“Because you can’t stop it.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“You seem confident.”
“I’ve spent two years making sure of it.”
Two years.
That number mattered.
Celeste and Daniel had supposedly met eighteen months earlier.
She continued.
“Daniel signs whatever I put in front of him.”
“He trusts me.”
“He’s already changed his estate plan.”
“He’s already given me access to his private investment accounts.”
“And after the wedding, he’ll sign the rest.”
“What rest?”
Celeste’s smile widened.
“Something you should have read more carefully before giving your son control.”
I said nothing.
That appeared to encourage her.
“Daniel owns Hale Dynamics.”
“No.”
She laughed.
“Still pretending you matter?”
I looked at her carefully.
My husband, Jonathan Hale, died seven years earlier.
To the public, Daniel became chief executive of Hale Dynamics shortly afterward.
Business magazines called him the heir to a $6.2 billion industrial empire.
Celeste apparently believed the magazines.
That was her first mistake.
Daniel was CEO.
He held twenty-two percent of the economic shares.
But control?
That was different.
Fifty-one percent of voting rights remained inside the Hale Founders Trust.
Trustee:
Margaret Hale.
Me.
Daniel knew.
Our attorneys knew.
The board knew.
But because I avoided interviews and spent most of my time managing the family foundation, people assumed I had retired.
Celeste apparently assumed the same.
I did not correct her.
Instead I asked:
“And what happens to Daniel?”
She shrugged.
“He’ll still have money.”
“For a while.”
Cold traveled through my body.
“You don’t love him.”
Celeste rolled her eyes.
“Love?”
Then laughed quietly.
“Daniel loves me enough for both of us.”
Behind the glass, my son appeared.
He spotted us.
His face brightened immediately.
Celeste’s expression changed in less than a second.
Warm.
Sweet.
Devoted.
“Margaret was just telling me how happy she is for us.”
Daniel kissed Celeste’s cheek.
Then looked at me.
“Everything okay, Mom?”
I stared at my son.
Thirty-six.
Brilliant enough to run an international company.
Apparently foolish enough to confuse obsession with love.
I could have exposed Celeste immediately.
I could have repeated every word.
But I knew Daniel.
If I attacked her without evidence, he would defend her.
Celeste probably knew that too.
So I smiled.
“Everything’s fine.”
Celeste looked surprised.
Only slightly.
I kissed Daniel’s cheek.
Then returned to the party.
At 10:42 that night, I entered my late husband’s study.
Closed the door.
Opened the hidden safe.
Inside was a red folder that had not been touched in seven years.
Across the front:
FOUNDERS TRUST — EMERGENCY CONTROL PROVISIONS
I called our general counsel.
Arthur Sloan answered immediately.
“Margaret?”
“Arthur.”
Something in my voice changed his.
“What happened?”
“I need a confidential review of every document Daniel has signed during the last twenty-four months.”
Silence.
“Does Daniel know?”
“No.”
“Should he?”
“Not yet.”
Arthur hesitated.
“This involves Celeste?”
“Yes.”
“How serious?”
I looked toward the photograph of my husband sitting on the desk.
“Serious enough that she just told me she intends to take Hale Dynamics.”
Arthur went silent.
Then:
“When do you want the audit started?”
“Tonight.”
“And Margaret?”
“Yes?”
“If we find what you think we’re going to find?”
I closed the red folder.
“The wedding continues.”
Arthur sounded confused.
“Why?”
“Because Celeste thinks she has twelve days left.”
May you like
I looked toward the conservatory where workers were removing engagement decorations.
“I want to know what she does with them.”
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