Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN MY HUSBAND LOVED BEFORE ME
Celeste Bain was not a random mistress.
She had been Adrian’s girlfriend before I ever met him.
That fact changed everything.
I hired an independent investigator through Margaret.
Not Vale Harbor security.
Not anyone Claudia could access.
The report came back forty-eight hours later.
Adrian and Celeste dated for almost two years in their twenties.
They broke up publicly.
But bank records, travel receipts and social media metadata suggested they never completely separated.
Even during the first months Adrian dated me, Celeste joined him on at least three “business trips.”
My marriage began inside a triangle I didn’t know existed.
Then something stranger appeared.
Celeste’s mother, Caroline Bain, had worked for Vale Harbor.
Twenty-two years earlier.
Director of finance.
I stared at the page.
“Dad knew her?”
Margaret nodded.
“Very well.”
“What happened?”
“She was fired.”
“Why?”
Margaret hesitated.
“Alleged financial misconduct.”
Caroline disappeared from corporate records shortly afterward.
Then Celeste appeared years later as Adrian’s communications director.
My skin prickled.
“Do you think she targeted him because of Vale Harbor?”
“We don’t know.”
Then Julian called.
He had recovered an old personnel archive.
Caroline Bain had been accused of diverting money from Vale Harbor’s employee pension fund.
Dad discovered the scheme.
She denied everything.
The case ended in a confidential settlement.
No criminal charges.
But the missing money was never fully recovered.
Then came the part that made me stop breathing.
Caroline died fifteen years ago.
Car accident.
Celeste was fourteen.
She had spent years telling people Vale Harbor destroyed her mother’s life.
Suddenly, the affair looked different.
Not innocent.
Not excusable.
But possibly useful to her.
Then my investigator found an email from Celeste to Claudia.
Sent eighteen months earlier.
Before my wedding.
Adrian is close to Elise now. If she marries him, access becomes easier.
My hands went cold.
Another reply from Claudia:
Do not push. Harrison is suspicious.
Then Celeste:
He won’t be around forever.
I stared at those words.
No direct threat.
No proof.
But enough to make my stomach turn.
Then Margaret found another connection.
Claudia Vance had been Caroline Bain’s closest friend at Vale Harbor.
They had worked side by side.
When Caroline was fired, Claudia stayed.
For twenty-two years.
Quietly rising through the company.
And now she had Adrian inside my marriage and Celeste inside his bed.
May you like
This conspiracy did not begin with MorganWell.
It began before I was old enough to understand what Vale Harbor was.
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