Chapter 15: The Prank Became Evidence

Officer Brooks took Adrian's statement while Hart documented every piece of evidence on the table.

Adrian had finally stopped trying to defend himself.

But I knew an admission wasn't enough.

People like Celeste survived for decades because they knew how to make the truth look complicated.

We needed proof that could survive outside this room.

Officer Brooks asked Adrian to explain the forged paternity report.

He stared at the floor.

“My mother hired Harbor Health Advisory.”

“Who contacted them?”

Adrian hesitated.

“Tessa found the company.”

Tessa's head snapped up.

“What?”

“She found them online,” Adrian said. “Mom gave her the information she needed.”

Tessa looked horrified.

“I didn't know they were going to forge anything.”

“You knew the report was fake,” I said.

She lowered her eyes.

“I knew it was supposed to scare you.”

Her voice broke.

“I didn't know Owen would be humiliated like that.”

I didn't respond.

An apology couldn't erase thousands of strangers seeing my son's face.

It couldn't erase his nightmares.

It couldn't restore the project I had lost.

And it couldn't undo the years I had spent believing Adrian would protect us.

Officer Brooks continued questioning Adrian.

“Who prepared the divorce agreement?”

“A lawyer recommended by my mother.”

“Who paid that lawyer?”

“My mother.”

Hart immediately asked, “And the two hundred fifty thousand dollars Celeste offered Nora?”

Adrian swallowed.

“That came from the same account.”

Graham's expression became colder with every answer.

“You used Bellamy money to destroy your own marriage.”

Adrian looked at him.

“I thought Nora would sign and leave quietly.”

I stared at him.

“Why were you so certain?”

He didn't answer.

Hart answered for him.

“Because they intended to use the fake report as leverage. If Nora signed, they could later claim she voluntarily admitted the allegations.”

Officer Brooks nodded.

“And the livestream would make the public believe their version before she could defend herself.”

That was exactly what had happened in my previous life.

Except this time, the trap had failed.

My phone vibrated.

A message from Hart appeared.

“The court granted the emergency preservation order.”

I let out a slow breath.

Adrian's eyes widened.

“What does that mean?”

Hart looked directly at him.

“It means neither you nor your family can delete, transfer, hide, or alter evidence connected to the livestream, financial transfers, trust documents, or the paternity test.”

Adrian said nothing.

Then Graham asked the question that had been waiting in the room.

“Where is Celeste?”

Everyone looked at Adrian.

He shook his head.

“I don't know.”

Officer Brooks checked her phone.

“We do.”

She turned the screen toward us.

“Mrs. Bellamy left Lakehaven forty minutes ago.”

My heart sank.

“Where is she going?”

Officer Brooks looked at the information.

“The airport.”

Graham stood immediately.

“She wouldn't run unless she had something to hide.”

I remembered the missing trust documents.

“She isn't running from the evidence.”

Everyone looked at me.

“She's running with it.”

Hart grabbed her bag.

“Then we need to find out what she's carrying before she disappears.”

I looked at Owen's photograph on my phone.

This time, I wasn't going to chase Celeste out of anger.

I was going to stop her because the truth belonged to everyone she had hurt.

And especially to the little boy she had tried to turn into a joke.