Chapter 24 - Leah Faces Celeste
Celeste’s attorney suggested Leah invented the locked-room story to avoid fraud charges.
Leah calmly described the luggage strap.
The hidden phone.
The broken charger.
The missing shoes.
Security footage showed Derek entering with water and leaving alone.
Cellular records proved Leah’s phone remained inside the house after Derek claimed she left Richmond.
Then the attorney asked why Celeste would help imprison her own daughter.
Leah looked at her mother.
“Because I stopped being useful.”
Celeste’s expression cracked.
Leah continued:
“She calls control protection. She calls theft management. She calls fear loyalty.”
Those words described both mother and son.
Celeste had trained Derek.
Derek perfected the method inside his marriage.
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But Leah did not excuse him.
“He learned it from her,” she said. “Then chose it every day.”
