Chapter 18 - The Last Person Inside
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The transfer originated from a company laptop.
Inside the mansion.
At 1:14 a.m.
Two hours after Celia had been taken into custody.
Damian’s first thought was the bodyguards.
Wrong.
Both were already at the hospital.
Frank checked the access logs.
Three staff badges entered the office corridor that night.
Frank.
Richard.
And Damian’s longtime accountant, Gregory Shaw.
Damian stared at the name.
“Greg?”
Gregory had handled his business finances for eighteen years.
He attended Elena’s funeral.
He sent Lily birthday presents.
He called Damian “brother.”
Richard looked sick.
“Victor Lane Consulting payments were approved through accounting.”
Damian understood immediately.
Celia had not moved six hundred thousand dollars alone.
Police went to Gregory’s home.
He was gone.
His passport was gone too.
But airport alerts caught him before he boarded a flight to Montreal.
During questioning, Gregory broke quickly.
Celia had approached him five years earlier.
At first, the scheme was simple.
Inflated consulting invoices.
Small transfers.
Then larger ones.
Gregory took a percentage.
When Elena began asking questions, Gregory warned Celia.
That was how Celia knew Elena had discovered the theft.
Damian sat silently as the detective explained it.
One betrayal after another.
But this time, he didn’t punch anything.
He didn’t shout.
He simply asked:
“Can the money be recovered?”
“Most of it, yes.”
“And the youth foundation?”
“The accounts are frozen and protected.”
“Good.”
Gregory also confirmed Celia knew about Elena’s estate amendment because he had seen a reference to it in an internal valuation file.
He didn’t know the full terms.
Neither did Celia.
That uncertainty drove everything.
She needed guardianship.
She needed Damian removed.
She needed Lily portrayed as unstable.
And she needed control before anyone else understood what Elena had done.
Every piece connected.
Nothing had been random.
The staged broken glasses.
The doctor.
The removed cameras.
The boxing exhibition.
The medical petition.
The guards rushing Damian.
The child harness.
Celia had been building a legal story.
She just never imagined Lily would survive it with enough courage to tell the truth.
Months passed.
The criminal cases moved forward.
Celia ultimately pleaded guilty to multiple counts tied to fraud, child endangerment, evidence tampering and financial crimes.
The crash-related charges were resolved separately after prosecutors proved she knowingly returned an unsafe vehicle to Elena without warning her.
The exact legal labels mattered less to Damian than the result:
Celia was going to prison.
Gregory was sentenced too.
Dr. Brennan lost his ability to practice while facing criminal and licensing consequences.
The bodyguards were convicted on lesser charges based on their roles.
Curtis received a reduced sentence because he preserved evidence and cooperated.
And every dollar investigators could trace was recovered or frozen.
Then came the civil hearing.
The last one.
The hearing that would determine whether Celia had any remaining claim over Lily’s trust or family assets.
Celia entered the courtroom in jail-issued clothes.
For the first time in Lily’s life, her aunt had no power over the room.
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👉 Celia had lost her freedom—but the final hearing would decide whether she also lost the fortune she had terrorized Lily to obtain.
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