Chapter 5: The Voice on Madison’s Phone
Celeste crossed the hallway in two steps.
“Give me your phone.”
Madison held it behind her back.
“No.”
“You live in my home.
I pay for that phone.”
“You paid for it with Emma’s money.”
Celeste reached for her, but Dad moved between them.
“Do not touch her.”
Celeste laughed bitterly.
“Now you want to be a protective father?”
“Play the recording,” I said.
Madison’s fingers trembled as she opened an audio file.
Celeste’s voice filled the hallway.
“Cut the gown where it cannot be repaired.
If Emma misses graduation, she will be too embarrassed to face anyone from that college.”
Madison’s recorded voice answered, “Why do you care where she goes?”
“Because once she leaves, Daniel will examine the education account.
We need more time.”
The recording ended.
Dad looked at Celeste.
“You used your own daughter to cover what you did.”
“She edited that.”
Madison stared at her.
“You know I didn’t.”
Celeste snatched the phone and threw it against the wall.
The screen shattered.
“There,” she said.
“Now there is no recording.”
Mr.
Patel took out his phone.
“It automatically uploaded when Madison shared it with me ten minutes ago.”
Celeste’s face emptied.
Mrs.
Alvarez touched Madison’s shoulder.
“Why did you record her?”
Madison wiped her cheeks.
“Because Mom said she would blame everything on me if anyone found out.”
“You still cut my gown,” I said.
“I know.”
“You still laughed.”
“She was watching me.”
“You could have warned me.”
Madison looked directly at me.
“I was jealous of you, Emma.
That part was real.
Mom didn’t invent it.”
The honesty stung more than another excuse would have.
“You had everything,” she continued.
“Good grades.
Teachers who loved you.
A picture of your mother that Dad kept on his desk.
I thought if you missed one important day, I would finally matter more.”
“You mattered without destroying me.”
“I know that now.”
Celeste clapped slowly.
“Beautiful.
Madison confesses, everyone cries, and somehow I become the monster.”
“You hid my letter,” I said.
“To protect my daughter.”
“You emptied my fund.”
“To protect this family.”
“You forged my name.”
“Prove it.”
Dad lifted the transfer form.
“We will.”
Celeste’s expression sharpened.
“Be careful, Daniel.
That account was in both our names.
If you accuse me, the bank will investigate you too.”
“Let them.”
“They’ll see your signature.”
“I’ll tell them how you got it.”
“And your company?” she asked.
“Will they appreciate their finance director admitting he signs documents without reading them?”
Dad’s jaw tightened.
Celeste moved closer to him.
“Drop this, and Emma can keep her scholarship.
Fight me, and you may lose your job, this house, and whatever money remains.”
For one terrible second, nobody spoke.
Then Dad looked at me.
“I already chose silence once,” he said.
“It cost my daughter sixty-two thousand dollars.”
He called the bank’s fraud department and put the phone on speaker.
Celeste grabbed her coat.
“Where are you going?” Dad asked.
“To speak to someone smarter than you.”
She opened the front door.
A gray sedan waited at the curb with its engine running.
Madison peered through the window.
“That’s Uncle Victor.”
“Your mother’s brother?” Dad asked.
Madison nodded.
“He helped her open the investment account.”
Celeste stepped outside, then turned back.
“If you contact the bank, Daniel, you will regret it.”
Dad raised the phone as the bank representative answered.
Celeste climbed into the sedan.
Mr.
Patel looked down at his screen.
“The doorbell camera caught the license plate.”
Madison picked up the broken pieces of her phone.
May you like
“She’s going to Victor’s office,” she said.
“That’s where they keep the original documents—and the flash drive with every signature they copied.”
