in preserving the relevant electronic records.
Naomi separately prepared court filings seeking protection for the assets involved in the disputed transactions.
By the time I finished, the rain had stopped.
My hands were cold, but my mind felt clearer than it had in months.
Conrad called again.
I didn’t answer.
He left a voicemail.
“Leona, whatever you did, undo it.
The bank won’t release the payment.
Rowan says the seller is threatening legal action.
Call me.
Please.”
That message became part of the evidence.
The next call came from Evelyn, the forensic accountant.
“We’ve identified something important,” she said.
“The Tideglass invoices were approved through a combination of Conrad’s account and an authorization linked to your former company login.”
“I haven’t accessed that system since last year.”
“We know.
We obtained records showing the login was reactivated from a device registered to a company administrator.
Your approval wasn’t performed from your personal device.”
“Who had access to that administrator account?”
“That’s part of the investigation.
But we also found correspondence connecting Rowan Arden to Tideglass.”
The voice I’d heard in the clinic suddenly made sense.
Rowan had been coordinating transactions with Conrad while Celeste persuaded him that the penthouse and the pregnancy were the foundation of their future.
The three of them were connected by more than an affair.
But whether Conrad knew the full extent of Celeste and Rowan’s arrangement remained unclear.
Naomi urged me not to speculate beyond the documents.
“Let the records establish what happened,” she said.
“Your responsibility now is to tell the truth about your own authorization and keep your family safe.”
At 2:18 p.m., I received an unexpected call from a number I didn’t recognize.
It was Celeste.
“Leona, you need to stop whatever you’re doing.”
I was standing in my bedroom, closing the final suitcase.
“What am I doing, Celeste?”
“You’ve interfered with a property transaction that has nothing to do with you.”
“A transaction funded through my husband’s company and authorized using my signature has quite a lot to do with me.”
She went silent.
Then she said, “Conrad told me you were vindictive.”
“Conrad told a lot of people a lot of things.”
“You don’t understand what happens if that money doesn’t arrive.”
“Then explain it.”
Her composure finally slipped.
“Rowan has obligations.
The apartment was supposed to secure them.
Conrad promised—”
She stopped herself.
I waited.
“Celeste?”
“Forget it.”
“Did Conrad know Rowan was still your husband?”
No answer.
“Did he know Rowan controlled Tideglass?”
Her breathing changed.
“You should stay out of this.”
Then she disconnected.
I immediately forwarded the call details and a contemporaneous written account of the conversation to Naomi.
As much as I wanted to expose everything, I wasn’t going to turn a complicated financial investigation into a shouting match with a woman I barely knew.
By late afternoon, our bags were in the SUV and the children had eaten sandwiches at the kitchen table one final time.
Mae walked around the empty dining room, touching the backs of the chairs.
“Will someone else live here?” she asked.
“Eventually, maybe.”
“Will they know we used to have birthdays here?”
I knelt beside her.
“They might not.
But we will.”
She nodded and picked up her rabbit.
Before leaving, Theo went upstairs to collect one last thing.
