Celeste continued.
“Adrian thinks I don’t remember what he’s done to me. He is wrong.”
She described the strange taste in her nightly drinks.
The missing hours.
The headaches.
The bank records she found.
The conversation she secretly recorded between Adrian and Dr. Kerr.
Then she spoke directly to June.
“June, there is something I should have told you years ago.”
June’s eyes filled.
“Your father came to me before the scandal became public. I was young. I trusted Adrian. When Daniel accused him, I believed my husband.”
Celeste looked down.
“That mistake destroyed an innocent man.”
Her voice broke.
“When I finally discovered the truth, your father was already gone.”
June began to cry.
“I brought you into my home because I wanted to help you. Then I became ashamed to tell you why. Every year I waited made the truth harder.”
Celeste took a breath.
“So I gathered proof instead.”
Adrian began shouting.
“This is manipulated! Turn it off!”
No one listened.
Celeste continued.
“At midnight, copies of these files will be sent automatically to the police, the foundation’s board, and three investigative law firms. If I am alive, I can cancel the transmission.”
She looked directly into the camera.
“If I am dead, the truth travels without me.”
June suddenly understood.
Celeste had never been warning them to destroy the drive.
She had been warning them to protect it until midnight.
Adrian understood too.
His face changed.
He pulled free from one officer.
A second officer reached for him.
Adrian shoved him into a cabinet and ran.
“Stop!”
He disappeared down the corridor.
June knew exactly where he was going.
“The old boathouse.”
Chen looked at her.
“What?”
“There is a radio relay beneath it. Adrian had it installed for the security network.”
“If he cuts the connection—”
“He can stop the upload.”
Everyone moved.
Rain hammered the cliffs.
Adrian reached the boathouse first.
June and Detective Chen followed with two officers.
Waves exploded against the rocks below.
The wooden building shook in the wind.
Inside, Adrian was tearing cables from a communications cabinet.
“Step away!” Chen shouted.
Adrian turned.
His expensive funeral suit was soaked.
Blood ran from one hand.
“You think this is justice?” he screamed.
June stood behind Chen.
“You poisoned your wife.”
“I built everything she had!”
“It was her family’s money.”
“I made it useful!”
“You stole it.”
“I multiplied it!”
“You destroyed my father.”
Adrian stared at her.
“He was going to destroy me.”
“So you destroyed him first.”
Lightning flashed beyond the windows.
The timer on Chen’s phone showed forty-three seconds until midnight.
Adrian looked toward the network cabinet.
Then toward an emergency lever beside the wall.
June knew what it controlled.
The old sea gate.
“Don’t!” she shouted.
Adrian pulled it.
A metal gate beneath the boathouse opened.
Seawater rushed into the lower chamber.
Electrical systems sparked.
One officer grabbed Adrian.
Another pulled June toward the exit.
The lights died.
For several seconds there was only darkness, thunder, and the sound of water.
Chen’s phone glowed.
Ten seconds.
Nine.
Eight.
Adrian laughed.
“The server’s gone!”
Seven.
Six.
Five.
June watched the screen.
Four.
Three.
Two.
One.
Midnight.
Nothing happened.
Adrian smiled.
Then Chen’s phone vibrated.
UPLOAD COMPLETE.
His smile disappeared.
Chen looked at him.
“The relay wasn’t the only connection.”
June almost laughed.
Celeste had always believed in backups.
By sunrise, Adrian Vane was in custody.
Dr. Kerr was arrested before he could board a flight to Zurich.
Within days, the scandal spread through every level of the Vane Foundation.
Accounts were frozen.
Companies were searched.
Former employees were questioned.
More victims came forward.
And Daniel Mercer’s name was formally cleared.
Celeste remained in intensive care for nine days.
On the tenth, June entered her hospital room carrying a small vase of wildflowers from Blackthorn Point.
Celeste was awake.
She looked thinner.
Older.
But when she saw June, she smiled.
“I suppose the wake went badly.”
June laughed despite herself.
“Terrible reviews.”
Celeste smiled weakly.
“Adrian?”
“Jail.”
“Kerr?”
“Also jail.”
“The files?”
“Everywhere.”
Celeste closed her eyes in relief.
After a moment, she asked the question she had been afraid to ask.
“Your father?”
June placed the flowers beside the bed.
“His name has been cleared.”
Celeste looked at her.
“I should have told you.”
“Yes.”
“I was ashamed.”
“You should have told me anyway.”
“I know.”
For a long time neither woman spoke.
Then Celeste whispered, “Can you forgive me?”