Chapter 15 - Celeste Tells the Truth
The hearing lasted six hours.
Summit Crown’s attorneys portrayed Malcolm as unstable, financially irresponsible, and emotionally obsessed with family legacy.
They were careful never to call him irrational directly.
They let documents suggest it.
Malcolm sat beside Renee and said nothing.
For once, he listened.
Then Celeste testified.
She wore a simple navy dress.
No expensive jewelry.
No attempts at dignity through appearance.
Renee asked, “Did you authorize Summit Crown to conduct survey work?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the trust owed money.”
“Was that the only reason?”
“No.”
Celeste’s voice trembled.
“I had taken twenty thousand dollars from trust funds for personal expenses.”
A murmur moved through the courtroom.
Malcolm watched her.
She did not look away.
“Did Summit Crown know?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Patrick Sloan knew. Leon Price later referenced it during negotiations.”
“How did that affect you?”
“I became afraid that if I refused access, I would be exposed.”
“Did anyone expressly threaten you?”
“Mr. Price told me that trustee irregularities often become public when beneficiaries litigate.”
Renee paused.
“What did you understand that to mean?”
“That he could ruin me.”
Summit Crown’s lawyer objected.
The judge allowed the answer as Celeste’s understanding, not proof of Price’s intent.
Renee continued.
“Why are you revealing this now?”
Celeste looked toward Malcolm.
“Because my nephew’s children almost died.”
Her voice cracked.
“And because I spent six years telling myself small dishonesty was different from real harm.”
She inhaled.
“It isn’t.”
Malcolm felt tears burn behind his eyes.
Celeste continued.
“I did not cause the landslide. But I opened the gate for people I did not trust because I was afraid of my own secret.”
Summit Crown’s attorney cross-examined aggressively.
“You stole money.”
“Yes.”
“You lied to Malcolm.”
“Yes.”
“You destroyed a geological report.”
“Yes.”
“So why should this court believe you now?”
Celeste held his gaze.
“You shouldn’t believe me because I’m good.”
Silence.
“You should believe documents, recordings, bank records, emails, and the fact that I’m admitting things that can hurt me.”
Even the judge looked up.
The attorney tried again.
“You resent Summit Crown.”
“Yes.”
“So you are biased.”
“Yes.”
“Then your testimony is unreliable.”
Celeste leaned toward the microphone.
“My shame does not make your client innocent.”
Malcolm looked down.
For the first time since the landslide, he felt something close to forgiveness begin.
Not complete.
Not easy.
But possible.
Dr. Morris testified next.
She explained the fracture zone, boreholes, residue, and blast pattern in measured language.
Summit Crown’s attorney pressed her.
“Can you state with absolute scientific certainty that the three charges caused the entire landslide?”
“No.”
Malcolm’s heart sank.
Then she continued.
“But I can state that explosives were used in a highly vulnerable rock mass shortly before failure, in locations where induced cracking would significantly increase instability.”
“Natural failure remained possible?”
“Yes.”
“Therefore you cannot exclude nature.”
Dr. Morris calmly replied, “Nature and human action are not mutually exclusive.”
That sentence changed the room.
The judge denied Summit Crown’s request to remove Malcolm as trustee.
More importantly, the court issued a temporary injunction preventing new access or development activity on the trust property.
Outside, reporters surrounded them.
Malcolm said nothing.
Celeste stopped beside him.
“I’m sorry.”
He looked at her.
“I know.”
“I don’t expect—”
He hugged her.
Celeste froze.
Then collapsed against him, crying.
Malcolm whispered, “This doesn’t erase it.”
“I know.”
“But it matters.”
She nodded against his shoulder.
Tasha watched.
Jordan and Nia were not present.
Malcolm was grateful.
Some family moments did not need cameras.
That evening, Leon Price gave another interview.
He blamed rogue contractors and “unauthorized conduct by outside legal representatives.”
Patrick Sloan watched the interview from his hospital room.
Then called prosecutors.
By midnight, he had provided an audio recording.
A private meeting with Price.
Price’s voice:
“October thirty-first is the wall. I don’t care how you create urgency, Patrick. I need that family ready to sell before then.”
Sloan:
“What if they won’t?”
Price:
“Then make the property something they no longer want.”
Sloan:
“You’re talking about damaging it?”
A pause.
Price:
“I’m talking about solving a business obstacle. Don’t ask me to design the solution.”
Malcolm listened twice.
Tasha sat beside him.
“That’s still not an explicit order.”
“No.”
“But it’s close.”
“Yes.”
His phone rang again.
Renee.
“Price’s board has suspended him.”
Malcolm closed his eyes.
“Good.”
“Do not celebrate.”
“You say that often.”
“Because you celebrate too early.”
“What now?”
“Summit Crown’s board found internal files Price tried to delete.”
“What files?”
“An engineering memo.”
Malcolm waited.
Renee’s voice became quieter.
“It predicts that a blast-induced fracture propagation could send debris into the residence zone.”
Tasha heard.
Her face emptied.
Malcolm whispered, “Before the landslide?”
“Three weeks before.”
“Did Price see it?”
“Yes.”
“How do you know?”
“He replied.”
Malcolm’s hand tightened around the phone.
“What did he write?”
Renee read the sentence.
Risk acknowledged. Do not circulate outside project leadership.
May you like
![92 The Girl They Called Broke Was a Billionaire’s Daughter—But Her Father’s Arrival Exposed a Secret Powerful People Had Buried for Years]](https://cdn.treeiq.biz/site_590/2026/11/clone-0-0915d882-53d7-4d17-b43a-a010ca1a1068.webp)
For the first time, the question was no longer whether Leon Price understood danger.
It was whether he had decided the Brooks family was an acceptable amount of it.
