Chapter 4
The estate printers kept logs.
Rocco had never cared.
Thomas did.
At 1:13 a.m. on one of Adrian’s recorded visits, the private office printer produced thirty-two pages.
Rocco had been in Boston.
Celeste claimed she had been asleep.
Adrian claimed he had only stopped upstairs for ten minutes.
The printer disagreed.
The files themselves were no longer stored locally.
But the print log retained document names.
Vendor Authorization Matrix.
Executive Approval Schedule.
North Shore Due Diligence Appendix.
Rocco stared at the screen.
These were business documents.
Not love letters.
Not personal records.
Celeste and Adrian’s secret was moving away from adultery and toward something else.
Claire Benton, Rocco’s outside attorney, warned him not to become relieved.
“Financial betrayal can ruin more people than an affair.”
“I’m aware.”
“You look relieved anyway.”
Rocco leaned back.
“My daughter isn’t watching my fiancée sleep with my cousin.”
Claire stared at him.
“That is an impressively low standard for good news.”
He almost smiled.
Then Thomas brought another report.
During five of the eight night visits, Celeste used the secure home-office printer.
During three, Adrian’s employee credentials accessed Moretti Holdings’ remote document system minutes later.
The times overlapped.
Rocco confronted Celeste with the logs.
She denied understanding the documents.
“I printed what Adrian asked for.”
“Why?”
“He said you authorized it.”
“Did you call me?”
“No.”
“Then you knew I didn’t.”
Celeste looked away.
There was the truth.
Partial.
“What did he give you?”
Her eyes snapped back.
“Nothing.”
“You took my daughter’s glasses, entered my private drawer, printed confidential documents at one in the morning, and you want me to believe you did it as a favor?”
Celeste stood.
“I’m done.”
Her attorney told her to sit.
She refused.
Before leaving, she turned toward Rocco.
“You keep assuming Adrian came here because I wanted something from him.”
Rocco watched her.
“What does that mean?”
Celeste’s mouth tightened.
“Ask what he wanted from me.”
She left.
That night Thomas reviewed visitor footage from the garage.
Adrian often arrived carrying nothing.
But he left with a slim leather portfolio three times.
Rocco recognized it.
The portfolio belonged to him.
May you like
He kept it in the bedroom cabinet.
The same cabinet where Celeste put Mia’s glasses.
