Chapter 20 - What Celeste Really WantedThe first time Gabriel saw Celeste again after leaving the mansion, he barely recognized her.
They met in a conference room at a Manhattan law firm in January 2027.
The meeting concerned divorce-related financial disclosures and temporary arrangements.
Both parties had legal counsel present.
Mia was not there.
Gabriel had made that condition clear.
Celeste entered wearing a dark blue suit.
She looked thinner.
Her hair was pulled back tightly.
The effortless elegance she once displayed had become a kind of armor.
For several minutes, the attorneys discussed financial accounts, disputed assets, and document preservation.
Then Celeste looked directly at Gabriel.
"You've turned everyone against me."
Gabriel said nothing.
She leaned forward.
"Your foundation. Your employees. Even Adrian."
"Adrian made his own decisions."
Celeste laughed bitterly.
"Everyone suddenly wants to be innocent."
Gabriel studied her.
"Do you?"
Her expression hardened.
"I spent two years taking care of a child you barely knew."
The words struck him.
He wanted to argue.
Instead, he answered, "I wasn't present enough."
Celeste blinked.
"And that's on me," he continued.
She smiled coldly.
"At least you admit it."
"But my absence didn't give you permission to hurt Mia."
Celeste's smile vanished.
"She was impossible sometimes."
Gabriel leaned forward.
"She was eight."
"You weren't there."
"You're right."
He paused.
"That's why I listened to the people who were."
Celeste looked toward her attorney.
"Are we really going to discuss this?"
Her lawyer reminded everyone that the meeting was for financial matters.
Gabriel nodded.
But Celeste continued.
"You have no idea what it was like living in that house."
Gabriel watched her.
"What do you mean?"
"Every room belonged to Evelyn."
He stared.
Celeste's voice trembled.
"Every photograph. Every story. Every memory."
Gabriel remained silent.
"I was your wife, Gabriel. But I lived in another woman's house."
"That wasn't Mia's fault."
"She reminded you of Evelyn every day."
Gabriel felt something cold move through him.
Celeste continued.
"Every time Mia cried, you remembered Evelyn. Every time she smiled, you remembered Evelyn. Everything was about the perfect mother who wasn't there anymore."
He stared at her.
"Did you resent my daughter because she reminded me of her mother?"
Celeste looked away.
"I resented being invisible."
Gabriel shook his head slowly.
"You had everything."
"No."
Her voice sharpened.
"I had what you allowed me to have."
The attorneys exchanged glances.
Celeste continued before anyone could stop her.
"The foundation. The house. The staff. Your social circle."
She leaned forward.
"But the money that mattered was protected for Mia."
Gabriel stared.
There it was.
Not the full truth.
But something painfully close to it.
Evelyn's trust had ensured that Mia would retain resources independent of Celeste's control.
To Gabriel, it represented protection.
To Celeste, it had become another reminder that she was not the center of the family.
"You could have built your own life," he said.
"I did."
"You used my daughter's name to take money."
Celeste's attorney interrupted.
"Gabriel, we are not addressing those allegations here."
Gabriel sat back.
He knew the meeting was not a criminal interrogation.
He would not try to turn it into one.
But he could no longer ignore what Celeste had revealed about herself.
She wanted love to resemble obedience.
She wanted belonging to resemble ownership.
And she mistook anyone else's needs for a threat to her position.
The attorneys returned to the financial disclosures.
After another hour, the meeting ended without agreement.
As Gabriel prepared to leave, Celeste spoke again.
"She'll forget me."
He stopped.
Celeste looked almost hopeful.
"Children forget things."
Gabriel turned.
"Maybe she'll remember some things for a long time."
Celeste said nothing.
"But I'm not going to make her life revolve around what you did."
He picked up his coat.
"And I won't let mine revolve around punishing you."
Celeste stared at him.
"Then what do you want?"
Gabriel considered the question.
Months earlier, he would have answered with threats.
He would have talked about destroying reputations.
Taking companies apart.
Making people regret crossing him.
Now he said something simpler.
"I want Mia to feel safe at breakfast."
Celeste frowned, as though the answer were beneath her.
Gabriel continued.
"I want her to know she can make a mistake without someone humiliating her."
His voice remained steady.
"I want her to understand that she doesn't have to earn the right to sit at a table."
Then he left.
That evening, Gabriel returned to Lena's house.
Mia was drawing.
He sat beside her.
"Can I see?"
She showed him a picture of three people standing beneath a yellow sun.
One was Mia.
One was Gabriel.
One was Lena.
Baxter stood beside them, drawn with enormous ears.
Gabriel smiled.
"That's beautiful."
Mia pointed toward an empty space.
"Nora."
"Would you like to draw Nora too?"
She nodded.
Then she picked up a purple crayon.
Gabriel instinctively felt tense.
Mia noticed.
She looked at the crayon.
"Purple."
"Yes."
Mia drew a large purple butterfly in the sky.
Then she smiled.
"Pretty."
Gabriel felt his throat tighten.
He had begun associating that color with Celeste.
But Mia was reclaiming it for something beautiful.
He put a hand gently beside hers.
"Very pretty."
Later that night, Margaret called.
"Gabriel, I have news."
He stood.
"What happened?"
"Adrian Pike's attorney has been in contact with investigators. He's cooperating."
Gabriel was silent.
Margaret continued.
"The prosecutors are evaluating documents and information he has identified. Some of it may help establish who directed the payments."
"And Celeste?"
"There's more."
Gabriel tightened his grip on the phone.
"What?"
"The investigators believe they may have located the storage account associated with the red folder's records."
Gabriel stared toward the kitchen.
"Have they recovered it?"
"Not yet. They'll need the appropriate legal authority."
He closed his eyes.
Months of waiting.
Months of evidence.
Months of watching his daughter slowly rebuild her sense of safety.
Now the investigation was approaching the documents Celeste had once considered untouchable.
Margaret's voice softened.
"Gabriel, whatever they find, remember something."
"What?"
"Mia's recovery doesn't depend on the outcome of a financial prosecution."
He looked toward the living room.
Mia was asleep beneath a blanket, her yellow rabbit beside her.
Gabriel nodded.
"I know."
May you like
But somewhere inside him, the father who had heard Nora whisper those terrible words on October 8 was still waiting for the truth.
And soon, the people behind the red folder would have to answer for it.
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