Chapter 7
Arthur finally explained the meaning of the old ring.
Agnes had called him the morning before the banquet.
“I told him I was finished waiting.”
Damien looked at her.
“For what?”
“For Celestine to stop.”
Arthur continued.
Agnes knew Celestine wanted the ratification signed during the party.
Why there?
Because several relatives, bankers, and Rourke directors would already be present.
A signature witnessed in that setting could later be described as deliberate and public.
Agnes decided instead to expose the original deed.
The old family ring was a signal.
A private one.
If Arthur saw her wearing it, he had permission to open the sealed briefcase and show Damien the documents no matter who was present.
Damien stared at his mother.
“You planned to tell me that night.”
“Yes.”
“Why not the day before?”
Agnes gave him a pointed look.
“You were in New York.”
He almost answered.
Then stopped.
Her criticism was fair.
He was always somewhere.
Celestine had built much of her plan around knowing that.
Greta added another detail.
Before the banquet, Celestine specifically instructed staff to place Agnes at a smaller side table.
Agnes refused.
She walked to the main family table instead.
That was when Celestine took her plate.
The humiliation had a practical purpose.
Drive Agnes away before Arthur noticed the ring.
Keep the old woman from sitting in the center of a room filled with witnesses.
Prevent the disclosure.
When Agnes refused to disappear, Celestine escalated.
Damien looked toward the abandoned ballroom.
“So the plate wasn’t the beginning.”
“No,” Agnes said.
“It was panic.”
Arthur nodded.
“And panic is useful.”
The investigators focused on the missing safe documents.
A staff camera showed Celestine’s assistant carrying a slim document case out of the mansion nine minutes after Damien escorted Celestine from the ballroom.
The assistant delivered it to a downtown law office.
Legal privilege complicated immediate access.
But the move itself established something.
Celestine had expected property documents to matter enough that they needed to leave the estate before Damien could see them.
Damien wanted to seize everything.
Arthur refused.
“We do this legally.”
“She stole records from my house.”
“Possibly her records.”
“Arthur.”
“You want the truth to survive court?”
Damien glared at him.
May you like
“Yes.”
“Then act like it.”
