Celeste looked from Rachel to Adrian.
“What exactly is happening?”
Adrian spoke first.
“Nothing you need to worry about.”
That turned out to be the wrong answer.
Celeste’s eyes narrowed.
“If my wedding reception is sitting without a bride and groom because we’re standing in your ex-wife’s hospital room, I think I’ve earned the right to worry.”
Rachel glanced at me.
I nodded.
She opened her briefcase.
“The restructuring between Mercer Coastal Hospitality and Whitmore Capital cannot proceed in its present form without Claire’s authorization.”
Celeste frowned.
“Why?”
“Because Claire remains a minority owner with contractual approval rights over major structural changes.”
Celeste looked at Adrian.
He said nothing.
She turned back to Rachel.
“I was told those rights ended in the divorce.”
“They did not.”
“Adrian?”
His voice became defensive.
“Our attorneys believed there were options.”
Rachel gave him a level look.
“Your attorneys understood the agreement perfectly. That’s why you tried to obtain Claire’s waiver.”
Celeste looked at the NDA.
Then at Adrian.
“Is that why we’re here?”
“No.”
I finally spoke.
“Yes.”
Adrian turned toward me.
“Stay out of this.”
It was such an astonishing sentence that even Rachel looked surprised.
I stared at him.
“You’re standing beside my hospital bed asking for my signature on documents affecting a company I partly own, and you just told me to stay out of it?”
He realized how absurd he sounded.
Too late.
Celeste’s expression was changing.
But Rachel wasn’t finished.
She removed a second folder.
“There is another issue.”
Adrian went completely still.
I saw fear before he could hide it.
Rachel continued calmly.
“Several financial records have been independently reviewed. There are enough discrepancies in project costs, vendor payments, and consulting contracts that board members were notified this morning.”
Celeste whispered, “What discrepancies?”
“Questions that require answers,” Rachel said. “Until those questions are resolved, the proposed transaction is being suspended.”
Adrian stared at me.
“You sent company documents to the board?”
“I sent documents to my attorney,” I replied. “After discovering figures that didn’t match records I had previously reviewed.”
“You had no right—”
“I own part of the company.”
His mouth closed.
For once, the obvious truth worked in my favor.
Celeste turned slowly toward him.
“You told my father due diligence was complete.”
“It was nearly complete.”
“You told him there were no material issues.”
“There aren’t.”
“Then why is the deal suspended?”
Adrian looked toward Rachel.
“Because Claire is creating panic.”
I shook my head.
“No. Numbers created the problem. I just stopped hiding them.”
The Question Celeste Was Afraid to Ask
For several seconds, the only sound in the room was Nora breathing.
Then Celeste looked at her.
Really looked at her.
Something in her face softened before becoming guarded again.
She asked Adrian quietly, “When did you find out about the baby?”
He didn’t answer.
Her gaze snapped to him.
“When?”
“A few weeks ago.”
The room changed.
Celeste’s face seemed to empty of every emotion at once.
“A few weeks?”
“I was trying to determine whether—”
“Whether what?”
He lowered his voice.
“Whether Claire was actually pregnant with my child.”
I felt anger spark inside me, but Celeste spoke first.
“And after you determined that?”
Adrian looked toward the window.
“I intended to explain.”
“When?”
“After the wedding.”
She stared at him.
He added, “After the financing was secure.”
Celeste laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“Of course.”
“Celeste—”
“No. I want to understand this.”
She pointed toward Nora.
“You knew your former wife was pregnant with your child. You knew there was a possibility the baby would arrive around the wedding. You knew Claire still had legal authority over the transaction my father is funding. And you told me none of it.”
“I was managing the situation.”
I will never forget the expression on Celeste’s face.
For months, I had imagined her as the woman who stole my husband.
Standing in that room, I realized something more complicated.
Adrian had lied to both of us.
Differently.
But deliberately.
Celeste slowly reached up and removed her veil.
She folded it over one arm.
Then she looked at her wedding ring.
Adrian noticed.
“Don’t.”
She slid it from her finger.
“Celeste, don’t make a decision while you’re upset.”
She stared at him.
“You married me two hours ago.”
“I know.”
“And your first major decision as my husband was to leave our reception, bring me to your ex-wife’s hospital room, and pressure a woman who just gave birth into protecting your deal.”
“That’s not what happened.”
“It is exactly what happened.”
She looked down at the NDA.
Then she placed the ring on top of it.
Softly.
No screaming.
No dramatic gesture.
Just gold against white paper.
“You seem very interested in agreements today,” she said. “Start with the ones you’ve already broken.”
Then she walked out.
Adrian did not follow her.
For several seconds, he simply stared at the ring.
What He Finally Saw
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