Chapter 9
Victoria finally told Rocco what happened three years earlier.
She had confronted Celeste directly after hearing rumors about the leadership restructuring.
Celeste asked her to wait until the new plan was finished.
Victoria interpreted that as rejection.
Then Celeste’s health deteriorated.
Weeks later Preston showed Victoria the photographed memorandum.
“He said Celeste didn't want me anywhere near real authority.”
“Did you ask her?”
“She was already in the hospital.”
“Did you ask me?”
Victoria laughed bitterly.
“You could barely say her name.”
That was true.
After Celeste died, Victoria stopped questioning the memo.
It fit what she already feared.
Preston encouraged her to take greater control of the museum because, he said, “Celeste had spent years keeping our side beneath hers.”
Rocco noticed the phrase.
Our side.
Preston had turned professional disagreement into family division.
The digital-recovery team then found a backup device from Celeste’s office server.
Not the full archive.
Enough.
One recovered email was addressed to Nora.
Subject:
VICTORIA ROLE.
The message was incomplete.
But the surviving lines read:
Victoria understands the families better than Preston gives her credit for. I want—
Then corrupted data.
Victoria stared at the screen.
It was the first written evidence that contradicted the memo.
Preston dismissed it.
“You don't know what the rest said.”
He was right.
Rocco hated that.
Then another recovered item appeared.
A draft attachment.
The filename matched the memo Victoria had photographed.
But the file size was different.
The digital investigator explained.
“The photograph appears to show a one-page document.”
The original draft had been three pages.
“Can you recover it?”
“Maybe.”
Preston stood.
His attorney told him to sit.
Preston remained standing.
May you like
That reaction gave Rocco more confidence than any accusation.
Whatever was inside those missing pages mattered enough to frighten a man who had spent a week pretending none of this mattered.
