Chapter 9 - The Bodyguard’s Insurance
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Bodyguard One’s name was Curtis Bell.
He had worked for Celia for eight months.
At the hospital, with an attorney present, Curtis gave detectives access to a cloud folder.
The files arrived just after midnight.
Damian refused to let Lily stay awake.
He carried her upstairs, helped her change into clean pajamas, and sat beside her bed.
“Are you going away again?” she asked.
Damian felt that question in his chest.
“No.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
“What if the doctor says I’m bad?”
Damian’s eyes burned.
“No doctor gets to decide whether you’re bad.”
“But Aunt Celia said—”
“Aunt Celia lied.”
Lily watched him carefully.
“Am I in trouble?”
Damian took her small hand.
“You are the only person in this house who is not in trouble.”
For the first time that night, she smiled.
Barely.
But it was enough.
Downstairs, Curtis’s files told the rest of the story.
Videos showed Celia ordering staff to create messes before Damian’s video calls.
One clip showed her removing a plate from a cabinet and smashing it.
Another showed Lily sitting quietly at a table while Celia yelled just outside camera range.
Then Celia stepped into frame and said:
“Now cry.”
Damian had to walk away.
Richard paused the footage.
“There’s something else.”
A spreadsheet listed payments.
Dr. Brennan received three transfers.
Curtis received nine.
A private investigator received five.
And one payment went to a court evaluator scheduled to review Celia’s guardianship petition the following week.
Frank stared.
“She bought the whole case.”
Richard nodded.
“She tried to.”
Celia stood between two officers.
Her mascara had begun to streak.
“You’re taking the word of a thug who attacked my father?”
Damian corrected her.
“He attacked me.”
“You hit him first.”
“He charged me.”
“Because you assaulted me!”
The detective raised his hand.
“Enough.”
Richard opened another document from Curtis’s folder.
This one was different.
A photograph.
Celia sitting in a restaurant booth across from Dr. Brennan.
Between them was a folder.
Stamped with Lily’s name.
The next image showed Celia handing him an envelope.
Richard said quietly, “This will end the guardianship petition.”
Celia laughed.
“You think that’s what this is about?”
Damian studied her.
“What else is it about?”
Celia looked at Lily’s empty chair.
Then at him.
“You always loved Elena more.”
There it was.
Not money.
Not entirely.
Something older.
Something uglier.
“You gave her the company.”
“Elena earned her shares.”
“You gave her your respect.”
“She earned that too.”
Celia’s face twisted.
“And now everything she had goes to her little girl.”
Damian said nothing.
Celia stepped closer.
“What was I supposed to get?”
Damian’s answer was immediate.
“A family.”
For one second, Celia looked wounded.
Then the hatred returned.
“You never understood.”
“No,” Damian said.
“I’m finally beginning to.”
But Richard was staring at another file.
A bank transfer dated two days before Elena’s fatal crash.
Payee:
Mason Auto & Fleet Repair.
Damian’s stomach dropped.
Celia saw the name on the screen.
And this time, she looked terrified.
May you like
👉 The financial trail had suddenly reached the repair shop that serviced Elena’s SUV just before she died.
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