Chapter 8 - Grant’s Denial
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Grant returned with three attorneys.
That told Dominic everything about how the conversation would go.
Rachel played the enhanced audio.
“Make him touch you.”
Static.
“The petition is already filed.”
More static.
Then Celeste’s voice:
“Grant, if this goes wrong—”
Rachel stopped the recording.
Nobody spoke.
Grant’s senior attorney leaned forward.
“Audio fragments are notoriously unreliable.”
Dominic looked at Grant.
“Was that you?”
“No.”
The answer came immediately.
“Did you speak to Celeste before dinner?”
“I speak to her regularly.”
“Did you know about her petition?”
Grant hesitated.
“I knew she was concerned.”
“Did you help prepare it?”
“No.”
Rachel placed billing records on the table.
A law firm connected to Grant had billed Mercer Strategic Holdings for “family guardianship analysis.”
Grant looked at them.
“I don’t manage Owen’s company.”
Dominic leaned back.
“Then let’s talk about Sofia.”
Grant’s face changed.
Very slightly.
“She requested trust records.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you give them to her?”
“I did.”
“Not all.”
“She misunderstood complex distributions.”
Dominic’s expression hardened.
“She was an investment attorney before she married me.”
Grant fell silent.
Rachel placed Sofia’s photograph of the ledger on the table.
“Four-point-eight million in consulting fees.”
Grant barely glanced at it.
“Legitimate.”
“To your son’s client?”
“Possibly.”
“To Celeste?”
No answer.
Dominic leaned forward.
“My wife believed Lily turning one would cost somebody control.”
Grant sighed.
“Your wife was grieving and exhausted.”
Dominic stood.
Every attorney at the table stiffened.
His voice remained calm.
“Do not use my dead wife’s exhaustion to explain documents.”
Grant looked up.
For the first time, fear appeared.
Then Celeste entered with her attorney.
Rachel frowned.
“You weren’t invited.”
Celeste ignored her.
She looked at Grant.
“You told me you’d protect me.”
Grant’s face went blank.
Dominic said nothing.
Celeste laughed bitterly.
“You’re actually going to deny everything?”
Her attorney touched her arm.
“Celeste.”
She pulled away.
“No.”
Grant looked directly at her.
“You should listen to counsel.”
Something in his tone changed her.
Not fear.
Rage.
“You said the video would be enough.”
Grant’s attorneys immediately interrupted.
But the words were already out.
Dominic’s eyes never left him.
Grant stood.
“This meeting is over.”
Celeste pointed at him.
“He told me Dominic would never lose custody permanently.”
Rachel spoke.
“So what were you promised?”
Celeste froze.
Dominic waited.
Finally, she whispered—
“A board seat.”
Rachel nodded.
“What else?”
“Ten percent of the new holding company.”
“And in exchange?”
Celeste looked toward Dominic.
“He needed Lily’s voting proxy.”
Grant shouted—
“Stop talking!”
The room went silent.
Grant had finally lost control.
Celeste smiled at him.
Then turned to Dominic.
“He said nobody was stealing from Lily.”
Her voice shook.
“He said we were protecting the family from you.”
Dominic stared.
“And you believed him?”
“No.”
Celeste’s answer surprised everyone.
“I believed the money.”
There it was.
No excuse.
No noble motive.
Greed.
But then Celeste added—
“You still don’t understand.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“Understand what?”
She looked at Grant.
“He didn’t start stealing after Lily was born.”
She turned back.
“He’s been taking money from your family for twelve years.”
May you like
👉 The fight over Lily’s custody was only the latest layer—Celeste had just accused Grant of hiding a theft that began long before Lily existed.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
