Chapter 10 - Dr. Warren
Celeste Warren did not run.
She arrived at the mansion with an attorney.
Elegant.
Calm.
Almost insultingly composed.
“Yes, I visited Maria.”
“Why secretly?”
“Because Anna asked me to protect Lily.”
“Anna has been dead four years.”
“Promises survive people.”
Ethan hated the sentence.
It sounded like something everyone in this family used to justify secrecy.
“Did you put sedatives in Maria’s drink?”
“Yes.”
Eleanor stood.
“You drugged her?”
“Small doses.”
“Why?”
“To stop her from leaving.”
Maria stared at Celeste.
“You made me sick.”
“I made you tired.”
“You made my four-year-old daughter think she had to work so I wouldn't lose my job.”
For the first time Celeste looked ashamed.
“I didn't know that.”
Consequences again.
People planned one thing.
Children paid for another.
“Why stop Maria from leaving?”
Celeste looked at Ethan.
“Because the moment she left this property, Lily would become visible.”
“To whom?”
“The Reed trustees.”
Lily’s existence threatened an enormous trust.
Because genetically she was Sophie Reed’s daughter and Malcolm Reed’s granddaughter through Thomas.
A bizarre consequence of Malcolm’s scheme.
Under the trust language, Lily could be entitled to nearly $18 million.
Celeste believed trustees would challenge Maria’s adoption.
“So you drugged Maria?”
“I needed days.”
“For what?”
“To destroy the last genetic record.”
Ethan stared.
“You were going to erase Lily’s identity.”
“I was going to protect her childhood.”
There it was again.
Protection.
The favorite word of adults who denied children truth.
But Celeste revealed something larger.
Malcolm had not created Embryo 6 for inheritance.
That theory was only partly correct.
He created it because Thomas was dying.
Malcolm wanted a genetic descendant who united both branches of his family.
Sophie discovered the embryo and was horrified.
She planned to destroy it.
Then Celeste falsified the destruction record.
“Why?”
“Malcolm ordered me.”
“So you helped him.”
“Yes.”
Years later Margaret discovered the embryo.
Celeste begged her to destroy it.
Margaret instead contacted Anna.
“Did you kill Anna?”
Maria asked.
Celeste’s composure cracked.
“No.”
“Did you damage her brakes?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
“I don't know.”
But Celeste had investigated.
Anna called her the night before the crash.
Terrified.
Someone had discovered Lily’s identity.
Someone wanted Anna to sign custody papers.
She refused.
“Who?”
Anna never said.
She only left Celeste a voicemail.
Police recovered it from an old backup.
Anna’s voice filled the room.
“If anything happens to me, don't let M take Lily. Margaret thinks M is helping her. She isn't.”
M.
Margaret?
No.
Anna clearly distinguished Margaret from M.
Malcolm was dead.
Maria?
Impossible—or perhaps not.
Maria’s face crumpled.
“Anna trusted me.”
Celeste looked at her.
“I know.”
Another M.
Then Ethan remembered the original adoption attorney.
The woman who prepared Margaret’s petition.
Marianne Sloan.
May you like
She later became trustee of the Reed estate.
And Marianne was still managing the $18 million trust Lily could inherit.
