Chapter 5 - The Snake in the Penthouse
Across the city, in the penthouse suite of the Ritz-Carlton, Celeste Winthrop shattered her third crystal champagne flute against the marble fireplace.
"She’s an impostor! A filthy, conniving little street rat!" Celeste screamed, pacing the length of the room. Her scarlet dress was rumpled, her makeup smeared with tears of furious humiliation. "Did you see the way Adrian looked at her, Dad? He looked at her like she was holy! Like she was something precious!"
Senator Winthrop sat on the leather sofa, a tumbler of Scotch in his hand. His tie was loosened, his face grim.
"Keep your voice down, Celeste," he warned sharply. "The walls in these penthouses have ears."
"I don't care who hears!" she spat. "If that woman is Rosalind Vale’s daughter, the entire trust shifts! The original Vale trust stipulates that thirty percent of the conglomerate shares were reserved for Rosalind and her heirs! Thirty percent, Dad! Adrian only controls thirty-five percent! If that girl is legitimate, Eleanor will hand her the voting bloc on a silver platter! Adrian won't need our family's capital anymore. He won't need me!"
Winthrop took a slow sip of his Scotch. His eyes were cold, calculating, devoid of any fatherly comfort.
"He won't need us if she survives the week with her reputation intact," Winthrop said smoothly.
Celeste stopped pacing. She looked at her father, her breath catching. "What do you mean?"
"The DNA test is being handled by Vance at Mass General," Winthrop said, pulling out a sleek black smartphone. "Vance owes his entire department's federal grant funding to my oversight committee. A single call from me can make that test inconclusive. Or better yet... completely negative."
Celeste’s eyes flared with hope, but then she hesitated. "What if Adrian orders a secondary test from an independent lab outside of Boston? You know how paranoid he is."
"Then we destroy the mother before the secondary test ever happens," Winthrop replied with a chilling smile. "We release the narrative first. A disgruntled catering server tries to extort the Vale family by teaching her child an old family dance she saw in a documentary. We leak an edited video of the ballroom incident to the social media gossip blogs tonight. By dawn, she’ll be branded an abusive mother who exploits her daughter for cash. Adrian won't be able to associate with her without tanking his stock price."
Celeste stepped closer, a dark, vindictive smile spreading across her painted lips.
"And the catering agency?" Celeste asked. "The agency she worked for tonight?"
"The owner of that agency holds the catering contract for my campaign dinners," Winthrop said. "By tomorrow morning, he’ll provide a sworn statement claiming Maya Bennett was caught stealing silverware and expensive vintage wine from the pantry before she made her little scene on the dance floor."
Celeste leaned down and kissed her father's cheek. The cruel, triumphant gleam had returned to her eyes.
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"Make sure the tabloids run her picture, Dad," Celeste whispered. "Let Boston see what a desperate, pathetic grifter looks like. Let's see if Adrian Vale still wants to play savior when his precious little niece is splashed across the front page as a common thief."
***
