Chapter 6 - CELESTE REFUSES TO LOSE
Celeste did not accept the broken engagement.
She announced a wedding date.
Publicly.
Without Adrian.
A reporter asked if the groom had agreed.
She smiled.
“He’s emotional.”
That sentence became another disaster.
Adrian issued a statement ending the engagement.
Celeste called him crying.
Then screaming.
Then threatening.
He recorded the last call.
“You think you can leave me after what I did for your family?”
Adrian asked.
“What did you do?”
Silence.
Then.
“You know.”
He didn’t.
That was the problem.
Margaret Cross did.
She called Dad.
Blackthorn Estate had been refinanced the previous year.
Harrow Crest guaranteed part of the debt.
In exchange, Celeste had demanded a private side agreement.
If the marriage occurred, she would receive a forty-percent beneficial interest in the estate.
If Adrian canceled “without cause,” his family owed Harrow Crest twelve million dollars.
Adrian had signed it.
Without reading the final version.
I wanted to scream at him.
Dad beat me to it.
“You signed a twelve-million-dollar penalty?”
Adrian looked miserable.
“I trusted her lawyer.”
Dad closed his eyes.
“Why?”
“She was going to be my wife.”
Dad looked at me.
I knew that look.
Do not say it.
I said it anyway.
“That’s not an answer.”
Adrian flinched.
Good.
Then the lawyers found the trap.
The agreement defined cause narrowly.
Felony conviction.
Not assault.
Not employee abuse.
Not lying.
Not public humiliation.
Celeste’s lawyer demanded payment.
Twelve million.
Margaret did not have it liquid.
If she defaulted, Harrow Crest could seize part of Blackthorn.
Celeste had tied herself to the estate before the wedding.
Then the police called.
They had reviewed the terrace video.
Celeste would be charged with misdemeanor assault.
Not a felony.
Her contract trap still worked.
She smiled when she heard.
“Looks like I’m not so stupid.”
Dad said nothing.
That scared me.
Then his attorney placed another document on the table.
A property survey.
The terrace where Celeste attacked me was not legally part of Blackthorn Estate.
It belonged to a conservation trust.
Trustee.
Elias Mercer.
Dad looked at Celeste.
“You assaulted my daughter on property governed by my trust.”
She shrugged.
“So?”
The attorney continued.
“The side agreement requires the incident to occur on Cross family property for the penalty protection to apply.”
Celeste’s smile vanished.
May you like
One foot of stone had just cost her twelve million dollars.
