Chapter 9 - THE UNRAVELING
The tablet screen illuminated the dim hall with a clear, high-definition video feed.
Because the hidden camera was mounted directly above the landing, the angle captured the entire interaction with terrifying clarity.
The video showed Mara standing near the top of the stairs, her hands folded protectively over her belly.
It showed Celeste stepping forward, her face contorted in rage.
It showed Mara stepping back, trying to retreat down the stairs.
And then, in undeniable, crystal-clear detail, the camera recorded Celeste raising both hands and violently shoving Mara backwards down the stairwell.
The video played the terrible thud of Mara falling, the sound of her body hitting the steps, and the cold, horrifying moment where Celeste stood at the top, watching her fall without making a single move to catch her.
Then came the audio of Celeste turning to Evelyn and saying: She came at me. Tell Mother she rushed me.
The hall was dead silent.
Daniel stood up slowly from the floor.
He looked at the tablet screen.
Then he turned to look at his sister.
The love, trust, and familial devotion that Daniel had carried for Celeste his entire life shattered into a thousand jagged, unfixable pieces in less than five seconds.
"Daniel..." Celeste squeaked, reaching out her hands toward him, her voice trembling with genuine, pathetic terror now. "Daniel, please... I was angry... I didn't think she would fall all the way down... please, Daniel..."
Daniel didn't shout.
He didn't scream.
He looked at his sister with an expression of such pure, absolute disgust that Celeste recoiled as if she had been slapped.
"Don't speak to me," Daniel said, his voice flat, dead, and utterly cold. "Don't ever speak to me again."
He turned to Evelyn, who was weeping quietly near the wall, her hands covering her face in complete shame.
"And you," Daniel said to his mother. "You knew. You watched her lie, and you were going to let her get away with it while my wife and son lay bleeding on the floor."
"Daniel, please..." Evelyn whimpered. "The family..."
"There is no family," Daniel said firmly, turning his back on both of them.
Detective Moreno stepped forward, nodding to his officers.
"Celeste Hawthorne," Moreno said formally, pulling a pair of steel handcuffs from his belt. "You are under arrest for attempted elevated assault, reckless endangerment, and attempted manslaughter of an unborn child."
"No! Get your hands off me!" Celeste shrieked as an officer grabbed her wrists, pulling her arms behind her back and snapping the cuffs into place. "Mother! Call our lawyers! Call Senator Vance! Mother!"
"Additionally," Moreno added, pulling a second warrant from his folder and serving it to Evelyn, "we are executing a federal search warrant for all financial records, servers, and ledgers belonging to the Hawthorne Foundation regarding the embezzlement of $600,000 in charitable funds."
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Evelyn swayed on her feet, grabbing the edge of the mahogany table to keep from collapsing as officers stepped past her toward the library.
Celeste was dragged out the front doors, screaming hysterically into the rainy night, her designer shoes dragging uselessly against the wet gravel driveway.
