Chapter 4 - THE CONSULTANT'S FORMER ASSISTANT
Rebecca Stone was twenty-nine, exhausted, and visibly frightened.
She met Celeste and Naomi in a conference room at Naomi's office.
She carried a canvas bag filled with notebooks.
“I worked for Dana for three years,” she began.
Naomi nodded.
“Tell us what you personally observed.”
Rebecca took a breath.
“Dana didn't create most of the frameworks she billed Harmon Capital for.”
Celeste remained still.
Rebecca continued.
“She copied materials from the internal planning drive, changed the branding, and submitted them as proprietary consulting products.”
Celeste felt a bitter wave of recognition.
The slides.
The event structures.
The donor strategy.
Years of her work repackaged beneath someone else's name.
Rebecca opened a notebook.
“Dana told us Celeste had given permission.”
Celeste shook her head.
“I didn't.”
Rebecca looked down.
“I know that now.”
She explained that Dana's team had been instructed to remove metadata from several documents.
When Rebecca questioned the practice, Dana told her it was standard brand consolidation.
Then she asked Rebecca to backdate an invoice.
Rebecca refused.
Two weeks later, she was dismissed.
Naomi asked whether Rebecca had retained any company documents.
Rebecca nodded.
“Only records I was legally entitled to keep, including my own employment correspondence. I haven't accessed the system since leaving.”
Naomi looked relieved.
“We'll review them carefully.”
The most important evidence was an email Rebecca had received from Dana.
It instructed staff to classify an unusually large payment as “executive relationship development.”
The payment had no clear deliverables.
And it had been approved shortly after Allison and Dana traveled together to London.
Celeste stared at the date.
That was the weekend Allison had told her he was visiting an institutional investor.
She had sent him a photograph of the first snow falling outside their house.
He'd replied with a thumbs-up.
After Rebecca left, Celeste sat silently.
Naomi watched her.
“You all right?”
Celeste laughed without humor.
“I spent years wondering whether I was imagining things.”
Naomi said nothing.
“I wasn't.”
That evening, Allison appeared outside Celeste's temporary apartment.
She saw him through the building's security camera.
He looked tired.
His coat was wet from the rain.
He called.
“Celeste. Please.”
She answered without opening the door.
“What do you want?”
“To talk.”
“You can speak to Naomi.”
“This isn't about lawyers.”
She closed her eyes.
“Everything is about lawyers now.”
He exhaled.
“Dana made mistakes.”
Celeste stared at the screen.
“Dana?”
“Yes.”
“And you?”
Silence.
“Allison?”
He looked away.
“I trusted the wrong person.”
Celeste felt something inside her harden.
“You didn't trust the wrong person. You betrayed the right one.”
He flinched.
She continued.
“I was your wife. I built your events. I protected your clients. I stood beside you when nobody knew your name.”
His eyes filled.
“I know.”
“No,” she whispered. “You knew what I did for you. You just stopped believing it mattered.”
She ended the call.
The following morning, Naomi received a letter from Harmon Capital's outside counsel.
The firm was threatening legal action over alleged disclosure of confidential information.
Celeste stared at it.
“They're going after me.”
Naomi nodded.
“They may try.”
Celeste looked down at the black folder.
May you like
Then said:
“Good thing I kept copies of everything I was allowed to keep.”
