Celia’s Private Investigation
Chapter 02 - Celia’s Private Investigation
The morning after the wedding, Celia behaved as if nothing had happened. She laughed over breakfast, sent flowers to the hotel staff, and held Noah’s hand when photographers waited outside.
But a door had closed behind her eyes.
She did not ask about Victor’s papers again. Instead, she returned early from the honeymoon and began spending long nights in the Eden Group archives. She told Noah she was preparing to take a larger role in the company. In truth, she was following a trail her late father had left in a locked desk.
Arthur Eden had died the previous winter after a sudden heart attack. His final notebook contained a list of hotel renovations that never occurred, payments to contractors that did not exist, and one repeated phrase: Ask why Victor needs married trustees.
Celia discovered that Victor had created shell companies and used family trusts to move money beyond the board’s oversight. A married trustee could legally delegate certain votes to a spouse. That was why Victor had chosen Noah.
Noah, meanwhile, tried to break free from the deal. He sold his car, accepted extra design work, and paid the hospital without Victor’s help. But Victor sent him photographs taken outside his sister Lily’s apartment.
“You may have changed your mind,” Victor said over the phone. “I have not changed mine.”
Noah wanted to tell Celia everything. Each time he tried, shame stopped him. He feared that one confession would destroy the only honest love he had ever known.
Celia eventually confronted him in the hotel greenhouse.
“Did Victor pay you to meet me?”
Noah could not lie again. “He promised to clear Lily’s medical debt.”
“And in return?”
“I was supposed to marry you and get control of your trust.”
Celia looked away, blinking back tears. “Did you ever love me?”
“Yes.”
“That was not my question.”
Noah’s voice broke. “I love you now.”
Celia removed her wedding ring, but she did not hand it back.
“I knew before the wedding,” she said. “I found Victor’s first payment to your landlord. I married you anyway because I thought love might become stronger than the lie.”
“It can.”
“Only if the truth comes before the next lie.”
She showed him copies of the false contracts. Victor had stolen more than eighty million dollars and was preparing to blame the missing funds on Celia.
Then she revealed one final document.
It carried Noah’s forged signature.
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According to the file, he had already transferred Celia’s voting rights to Victor.
Someone was preparing to make Noah the perfect criminal.
