Chapter 3 - CELESTE’S VERSION OF LOVE
Celeste agreed to speak only through her attorney.
The interview took place the next morning at the Marblehead Police Department.
Everett watched from behind a one-way window while Detective Cross questioned her.
Celeste wore a cream suit and pearl earrings.
She looked less like a suspect than a woman attending a board meeting.
“I acted to protect my grandson,” she said.
“By locking his mother in a room?”
“Maren was agitated.”
“By leaving the baby beside an open window?”
“I did not leave him there.”
“Who did?”
“I don’t know.”
Detective Cross placed photographs across the table.
Celeste did not look at them.
“Dr. Vale says you directed him to sedate Maren.”
“Nathaniel is frightened. Frightened people lie.”
“He also says you paid him.”
“I paid for medical consultations.”
“What about the forged trust?”
Celeste smiled faintly.
“My son signs hundreds of documents. He does not remember all of them.”
Behind the glass, Everett’s hands curled into fists.
Detective Cross opened the black notebook.
“What is the Denver contingency?”
For the first time, Celeste’s eyes shifted.
“I have no idea.”
“Your handwriting appears throughout this notebook.”
“It could have been planted.”
“By whom?”
“Maren.”
Everett almost entered the room.
Simon stopped him.
“Let her talk.”
Celeste continued.
“Maren has always been threatened by this family. She wanted Everett isolated. She wanted access to money she had not earned. She knew Julian would secure her place permanently.”
Detective Cross leaned forward.
“So you believed removing her was justified?”
“I believed protecting the Langford legacy was necessary.”
“That is not what I asked.”
Celeste’s composure thinned.
“You cannot understand what it means to preserve something across generations.”
Detective Cross closed the notebook.
“No, Mrs. Langford. I understand perfectly.”
She stood.
“You considered people less important than the money attached to their names.”
Celeste’s attorney ended the interview.
But her words revealed more than she intended.
Everett had grown up believing his mother’s control was a form of devotion.
She chose his schools.
His friends.
His clothes.
After his father died, she chose which company executives he could trust.
She called interference protection.
She called surveillance concern.
She called obedience loyalty.
Maren had seen the truth before he did.
That afternoon, Everett visited his mother at the home she owned outside Boston.
Celeste was not under arrest yet, but police had advised her not to leave the state.
She poured tea as though nothing had happened.
“You should be with your wife,” she said.
“I should.”
“Then why are you here?”
“To hear you say it.”
“Say what?”
“That you planned to take my son.”
Celeste set the teapot down.
“I planned to save him.”
“From Maren?”
“From instability.”
“She was drugged.”
“Because she was uncontrollable.”
“She was defending her baby.”
Celeste sighed.
“You are emotional. That is understandable.”
Everett laughed once.
“You still think you can speak to me like I’m twelve.”
“I think you are exhausted and frightened.”
“I think you forged my signature.”
Her silence answered him.
Everett placed a copy of the trust amendment on the table.
“You were going to control Julian’s inheritance.”
“I was going to protect it.”
“From whom?”
Celeste looked directly at him.
“From you.”
Everett went still.
She continued calmly.
“You have always been weak where affection is concerned. Your father knew it. You married a woman without pedigree, without preparation, without any understanding of what this family carries.”
“She carries more strength than anyone in this family.”
“She has made you sentimental.”
“She made me human.”
Celeste’s mouth tightened.
“That is exactly the problem.”
Everett stared at his mother and finally understood that there would be no confession born from remorse.
Only justification.
“What was supposed to happen to me on Saturday?”
Celeste’s eyes revealed something before her expression could hide it.
Everett saw fear.
Not concern.
Recognition.
He stood.
“You knew about the flight.”
Celeste said nothing.
“The notebook mentioned a charter.”
Still nothing.
Everett leaned across the table.
“Were you planning to kill me?”
Celeste’s voice became cold.
“Do not be dramatic.”
“That is not a denial.”
“You came here hoping to turn me into a monster because the alternative is admitting you failed your wife.”
Everett absorbed the blow.
It was cruel because part of it was true.
He had failed Maren.
But he would not fail her again.
As he turned to leave, Celeste spoke behind him.
“Everett.”
He stopped.
“If you destroy this family for her, she will eventually leave you.”
Everett looked over his shoulder.
May you like
“No, Mother.”
“You destroyed this family.”
