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00:00Thanksgiving night was the last calm moment I remembered.
00:04I tasted black truffle on my tongue, a holiday tart.
00:07Grayson insisted I try, and then everything blurred.
00:10The world tilted.
00:11My limbs went numb.
00:18And consciousness slipped out of my hands
00:19like water through broken glass.
00:23When I woke, both of my arms were broken,
00:26the pain sharp and white hot.
00:28And I was lying somewhere deep inside
00:30the Sierra Nevada wilderness.
00:35My fiance handed my private jet to his assistant
00:38like it was a party favor.
00:41I didn't even pause to process the insult.
00:47My fingers were dialing the FAA emergency line
00:49before the outrage fully settled in my chest.
00:52And within minutes, they intercepted her midair,
00:55grounding the plane at the nearest federal airfield.
00:59When Grayson Whitmore found out, he didn't look shocked.
01:02He didn't look guilty either.
01:04He looked irritated at me, not her.
01:07Jesus Celeste.
01:09He sighed, stroked his forehead as if I were the unreasonable one.
01:13Mia just wanted to fly home for Thanksgiving and make a good impression.
01:17It's not that deep.
01:19She's still being held by federal officers.
01:21Would you please go down there and explain it was a misunderstanding?
01:24They're not going to prosecute a girl for wanting to feel important.
01:27Sometimes I wondered whether he genuinely believed the bullshit he said,
01:30or if he simply thought I was too soft or too in love to call him on it.
01:35Grayson, this isn't about feeling important.
01:39This is about flying a multi-million dollar aircraft without a pilot's license.
01:45If he was showing off.
01:46And people who break federal aviation law should face the consequences,
01:51even if they flutter their eyelashes at you.
01:53He let out a long theatrical exhale, the kind meant to signal I was being impossible,
01:58before turning away.
02:00I'll have Whitmore Enterprise's legal department deal with it.
02:03You never know how to pick your battles.
02:10The cold earth pressing through my skin like a second heartbeat.
02:14A red glow washed over me.
02:16The beam of an infrared camera before Grayson's voice followed,
02:19low and venomous.
02:21You know, Mia was detained for 48 hours because of your little tantrum.
02:24He asked his tone dangerously calm.
02:26She was terrified.
02:28So you can fly a plane?
02:30Big deal.
02:32Let's see what other impressive skills you have.
02:34Think you can walk out of here naked and make it home.
02:38My vision shook, but I forced my good fingers, what remained of them,
02:42to reach the side of my AR tactical glasses.
02:45The emergency signal was faint, but it was there.
02:47I pressed the button, my voice cutting through the wind in a low, steady rasp.
02:51Get here in 30 minutes, and I will owe you everything.
02:56Celeste Montgomery, you're going to apologize to Mia right now and say out loud that you're
03:01nothing but a worthless bitch.
03:03Otherwise, you can rot out here in the Sierra Nevada until the toxins in the air finish you off,
03:08or until something with fangs does.
03:10Mia Carrington nestled comfortably against his chest as if this were some sick holiday movie scene,
03:15instead of an attempted murder broadcast to criminals, slid into the frame.
03:20Celeste, honey, your arms are broken.
03:22Maybe just give in a little?
03:24If you apologize, I'll ask Gray to pull you out of here.
03:28Grayson pulled her in and kissed her, the glow of the screen sharpening the cruelty in his eyes.
03:32Then he lifted the drone controller, sinking our feed to a Darknet livestream packed with faceless buyers
03:37who treated human suffering like a sport.
03:40Ladies and gentlemen, your Thanksgiving special begins now.
03:45Celeste Montgomery, daughter of old money royalty, former federal wilderness survival specialist,
03:51will attempt to cross the Sierra Nevada with no gear, no clothes, and two broken arms.
03:56Place your bets on how long she'll last. $1,000 per minute. No upper limit.
04:09For one heartbeat, the mask slipped. And I saw the same kid who used to sneak me into Met Gallus
04:14and promise me the world. Then Mia whispered something and the mask slammed back down, harder, crueler.
04:21Celeste, you can't just throw away five years.
04:27Unless you already have some side piece lined up. Some Wall Street wolf waiting in a Park Avenue penthouse.
04:39Montgomery Global stock is tanking faster than SPS, Celeste. You're nothing without me.
04:45You want to call off the wedding? Fine. When the feds freeze every offshore account your grandfather buried in the
04:50Caymans.
04:51Get that drone in her face. Give the subscribers the money shot. Forte. Night vision, the works.
04:58I threw up a broken arm to shield myself. Then remembered I was naked underneath the ruins of a $10
05:03,000 gown.
05:05Shame burned hotter than the chemical fire in my veins. I curled into a ball, slid another foot down the
05:10Icelandic slope,
05:11and nearly pitched into the ravine. Somewhere below, Timberwolves started howling. Real ones, not metaphors.
05:20Celeste, honey, just sign the transfer. It's only money. Let Grayson cool off.
05:23We'll airlift you out, get you a spa day at Mirval. Pretend this never happened.
05:27A second drone swooped in, mechanical claw, gripping a tablet, displaying the share transfer agreement.
05:31It hovered six inches from my nose like a guillotine. Sign or freeze. Your choice.
05:40Go to hell!
05:45Something slithered over my cheek. Centipede. Six inches long. Rocky mountain paranoia venom.
05:51It crawled into my ear. The pain was so bright I almost welcomed it. Then gravity took over again.
05:57I clawed at frozen granite fingernails snapping and slid closer to the poison ivage oak drop where rattlesnakes denned for
06:06winter.
06:07Keep talking tough, princess. Ten more feet and you're in the viper pit. Let's see that harbor mountain negotiate with
06:12diamond eyes.
06:13You're not the Montgomery heiress anymore, Celeste. Grayson says if you sign and apologize live, admit you framed me for
06:18cooking the books,
06:19tried to send an innocent girl to federal prison, he'll call the chopper. I'll even forgive you for that SEC
06:24subpoena you paid for.
06:26You vicious bitch! Trying to lock Mia up? What about her little sister who needs chemo?
06:34The first drone released a glass ampule. It shattered at my feet in a hiss of white vapor.
06:41The snow around my bare feet melted into black sludge. Military grade corrosives.
06:46Flesh on my calf bubbled like acid on steak. I screamed until my throat tore.
06:52Scared yet, Celeste? Apologize to Mia. Now. Or the next one goes in your face.
07:00I dragged myself an inch uphill, blood painting the snow red. The metallic scent drew every leech, tick and beetle
07:08in a five mile radius.
07:09They burrowed under what was left of my dress. I couldn't swap them off. For the first time in 28
07:15years of boardrooms, bailouts, and Forbes covers.
07:19Celeste Montgomery was out of moves. I lifted my head to the drone lens. To the man who once swore
07:25he'd burn the world before he'd let me get hurt.
07:29Grayson, when I get out of here, and I will, I'm going to take everything.
07:36Then, the centipede in my ear released its venom. The ravine rushed up to swallow me. And the last thing
07:42I heard was Mia laughing, like she'd already want it.
07:49Everything bled crimson blood. Mud. The strobing red of the drone's emergency LEDs. I couldn't tell where one ended and
07:57the other began.
07:58My pulse hammered so loud. I barely heard the dark net chat lose its collective mind.
08:06Even Grayson's executive assistant started sweating bullets. The guy had buried bodies for Whitmore Enterprises in three continents.
08:13But live streaming a billionaire heiress getting eaten by wolves apparently crossed a line.
08:19Mr. Whitmore, sir. Celeste looks half dead already. Heart rate's crashing on the biometric feed.
08:24She's not dying.
08:27Girls like Celeste don't die. They just get humbled. If she hadn't spent the last five years trying to
08:33frame Mia for securities fraud, maybe I'd have gone easy. Tonight's just a friendly reminder.
08:40I have damn friends for business. Don't throw away generation.
08:44I forced my head up, locked eyes with the drone's cold lens, and let every ounce of Montgomery Steel pour
08:52into my glare.
08:52I did nothing wrong. Why the hell should I hand over 10% of the company my great-grandfather built
08:58from steel mills in Pittsburgh?
09:00Just because some trust fund psycho wants to flex.
09:03Bugs, please. I'd spent summers tagging grizzlies with federal wildlife teams and catmine before I could legally drink.
09:11This was just another Tuesday in hell. With everything I had left, I rolled onto my back and dragged myself
09:16across the jagged shale.
09:18Rocks tore fresh gashes across my shoulder blades, but the pain was a blessing.
09:22It scraped off half the leeches and centipedes burrowed into my skin. Blood mixed with snow into pink slush.
09:29Yet somewhere in the haze I spotted it. A cluster of wild sagebrush glowing faintly under the drone's floodlight.
09:35The same plant rangers in Denali swear by. Crushed leaves masked blood scent for exactly 11 minutes. I take sips.
09:43Celeste Montgomery, have you no shame?
09:46Beg right now, or the next thing coming down that ravine won't be bugs.
09:51You never planned to let me walk out of here, Grayson.
09:55Dead or broken. You decided to second you. Spikes the champagne.
10:04Oh my god Celeste, what are you doing?
10:07As I clawed the sagebrush closer, bit the stem until bitter juice flooded my mouth, then smeared the pulp across
10:13every bleeding wound.
10:15The alkaloids hit my bloodstream like ice water, numbed the nerve endings, killed the scent trail.
10:19Temporary, sure. But temporary was all I needed.
10:23Mia always said you were a snake. Guess she's right, you're trying to fake a suicide, pin it on me,
10:29ruin Whitmore Enterprises on Black Friday weekend.
10:32Classic Celeste.
10:34Even half naked in a blizzard, you're still scheming.
10:37Five years, Grayson. Five years I cleaned up your messes.
10:41Quieted the SC. Buried the insider trading rumors. Paid off that flight attendant you knocked up in Vegas.
10:49Without Montgomery Capital, you'd be still slinging dime bags outside Yale.
10:58For one heartbeat, the mask slipped again. Something raw flickered behind those Wall Street eyes.
11:03Guilt maybe, or the ghost of the boy who used to sneak me onto the roof of the Met to
11:07watch July 4th fireworks.
11:09Then Mia whispered poison in his ear, and the mask hardened into granite.
11:15This chick's got nine lives, boss. I thought she was done ten minutes ago.
11:19Then let's burn through the rest.
11:22I want to see how long that Montgomery pride lasts when the wolves start chewing.
11:27Celeste, sweetie, don't make the wolves angry.
11:31You're screaming loud enough to wake every predator from here to Glaciers National Park.
11:35When you tried to send Mia to federal prison for cooking the books you cooked up yourself, did you warn
11:41her?
11:41Open the speakers.
11:43The drone's PA system blasted a recorded alpha wolf snarl at 180 decibels.
11:48Enough to rattle bones. Every tree around me exploded with movement.
11:52Branches snapped. Snow cascaded. The real pack answered the call.
11:57I froze every muscle seizing. Pain from my compound fractures.
12:02The acid burn on my calf. The centipede venom.
12:05None of it compared to the primal terror of glowing eyes circling in the dark.
12:08Eight, maybe ten sets. Timberwolves, coastal giants. The kind that take down news for fun.
12:14One stepped into the floodlight above me. Silver gray, 200 pounds of pure hunger.
12:19Its breath steamed in the sub-zero air. I heard the crunch of its paws, the low rumble in its
12:25chest.
12:25Grayson. Wanted me shredded on camera. Survival instinct kicked harder than any drug. I eased backward, inch by inch.
12:36Running now, princess? Where's all that billionaire backbone?
12:41Hide and seek with a wolf pack. How's that for a thanksgiving tradition?
12:45Green eyes multiplied in the darkness. Fangs caught the light like switchblades.
12:51Last chance, Celeste. Kneel. Apologize to Mia on stream. I'll hit the ultrasonic repellent.
12:56Keep fighting and you're dinner.
13:01Say you're sorry, damn it.
13:04This is how the Montgomery line ends.
13:13She doesn't owe a single goddamn apology to anyone.
13:18And somewhere above the treeline, a Blackhawk chopper roared in low.
13:40Celeste, I've got you.
13:44Nathan Hale swung down like some avenging specter, former Delta Force.
13:50Three-time national combatives champion.
13:53And the man my grandfather trusted with every dirty secret the Montgomery fortune ever needed vary.
13:59Nathan Hale?
14:00Nathan didn't answer him.
14:02The rage in his stare could have melted the glacier behind us.
14:06But his hand stayed gentle when he stripped off his plate carrier parka and wrapped it around my shaking shoulders.
14:14Celeste, I've got you.
14:15He scooped me up like I weighed nothing.
14:18So careful to keep pressure off the places where bone pokes through skin.
14:21I tried to shrink away, mortified that Nathan Hale of all people was seeing me like this naked, filthy, broken.
14:29It's over, sweetheart.
14:32Nobody touches you again.
14:33His team dropped in behind him, suppressed rifles barking in short, surgical bursts.
14:39The remaining wolves scattered into the dark like they've never existed.
14:43Who the hell are you people?
14:45This is a private matter.
14:48Private?
14:51Kidnapping, aggravated assault, attempted murder.
14:55When did federal felonies become a couple spat?
14:58Grayson Whitmore, Mia Karen can kill the stream right now.
15:02Before I start putting rounds through optics and we watch whose skull blooms next.
15:11Captain Hale, sir, this is a misunderstanding.
15:14Save it for the U.S. Attorney or for the Montgomery Legal Division.
15:18Your choice.
15:20Montgomery?
15:21Which Montgomery?
15:24The one that makes the Dow twitch every time the old man sneezes.
15:27The one your boyfriend's been siphoning from for five years thinking nobody was watching.
15:34Celeste Montgomery.
15:37Heiress.
15:38Majority shareholder.
15:40And the woman you just tried to feed to wolves on Thanksgiving.
15:44Surprise.
15:50Grayson, the annulment papers hit your desk tomorrow morning and the bankruptcy petition hits the Southern
15:55District of New York five minutes later.
15:57Happy Thanksgiving.
15:59Sleep tight on that private jet cot.
16:07I still couldn't stop shaking partly from hypothermia, part the special kind of cold that settles in your bones when
16:14the man you loved tries to murder you for sport.
16:17Nathan knelt between the jump seats, cleaning blood from my forearms with steady marine precision.
16:23Every swipe of the alcohol wipe felt like fire, but his touch never faltered.
16:28The patriarchs got the estate on full lockdown.
16:31Top orthopedic trauma surgeon out of Johns Hopkins is already wheels up from Baltimore.
16:36Your grandfather tried to charter a C-130 to come rip Whitmore apart with his bare hands.
16:41Took three generals to talk him down.
16:44This one's yours to finish.
16:46I managed a nod.
16:48Every memory from the last five years rewound in high def.
16:51Grayson kissing my knuckles.
16:53After the Montgomery Trust quietly bailed out his failing startup.
16:57Mia sliding updated contracts across his desk.
16:59Pupils blown wide with victory.
17:03The way he'd snap.
17:05What is that?
17:07Can you stop being so paranoid?
17:09Every time I pointed out her forged signatures.
17:12I'd ignored every red flag because I thought love meant trusting harder.
17:16Five years.
17:17I'm the punchline in a joke I helped write.
17:21You trusted the wrong person, Celeste.
17:24That doesn't make you stupid.
17:26It makes you human.
17:28And humans get even.
17:36Here's Mia's greatest hits.
17:38We've got her cold.
17:39I scrolled.
17:40She'd hollowed Whitmore Enterprises out like a Thanksgiving turkey and stuffed the carcass with IOS.
17:46Another file.
17:48Whitmore's real balance sheet.
17:51Red ink deep enough to drown Manhattan.
17:54Our legal team drafted everything.
17:57An annulment returns every gift, every trust contribution, every share he ever touched.
18:05Attempted murder, conspiracy, violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act for the Darknet stream.
18:11The drone footage alone will put them away for 25 to life.
18:14I closed my eyes and saw Patriarch Montgomery's face crinkled with worry the last time.
18:20I turned down his offer to vet Grayson personally.
18:23He'd known.
18:24Of course he'd known.
18:25And I'd been too proud, too in love, too blind.
18:33Take me home, Nathan.
18:35Tomorrow we burn their empire to the ground.
18:37And salt the earth.
18:40Copy that, ma'am.
18:41Next stop, Montgomery State, Aspen.
18:45Then we make them.
18:48Wish the wolves had finished the job.
18:52Five years ago, I sat across from Patriarch.
18:55I told him I wanted to try a relationship without the Montgomery name attached.
19:01No private security tale.
19:03No trust fund safety net.
19:06Just me and some guy from Yale who swore he loved me for my brain.
19:10Not my portfolio.
19:11The old man's face went the color of ash.
19:14He smashed his favorite crystal wine glass on the floor and roared that.
19:18I was throwing away a century of blood and steel for a pretty smile.
19:23In the end, he caved like he always did when I dug my heels in.
19:27Play your little game, Celeste.
19:31But when the world shows you its teeth, you come home.
19:40I opened my eyes in the Blackhawk's dim cabin.
19:42The morphine finally wearing off enough for the words to cut through the pain.
19:48Noidify every major outlet, CNN, Bloomberg, Fox, The Journal, all of them.
19:54Tomorrow, 10 a.m. sharp, penthouse ballroom, Montgomery Global Tower, mid-down Manhattan.
19:59I'm holding a press conference.
20:01Copy that.
20:02Comms team's already spinning up.
20:03We'll have every network on the continent begging for seats.
20:09The PR director met me in the private elevator.
20:12Ma'am, the ballroom's locked down tighter than Fort Knox.
20:15We've got every tier one journalist from here to Tokyo.
20:18Live feeds to every financial desk in the world.
20:20The bespoke Armani suit hid the road rash and acid burns like armor.
20:25Only the faint tremor in my fingers betrayed the truth.
20:28Tell them I'm on my way.
20:32Thirty minutes later, I stepped onto the day eyes under a constellation of camera flashes,
20:37hot enough to melt steel.
20:39Nathan flanked my right.
20:41Eight more operators ringed the stage, hands never far from concealed Sig Sowers.
20:47Good morning.
20:48Thank you for coming on short notice.
20:50I'm here to set the record straight on one matter, and to announce a decision.
20:58Grayson Whitmore stormed in looking like he'd slept in a dumpster.
21:02Mia clung to his arm, mascara tracks carving rivers through her foundation.
21:06Celeste, you vicious bitch.
21:09What did you do to my company?
21:11Every account frozen, every supplier ghosting me.
21:15Do you have any idea what you've cost me?
21:19Celeste, please.
21:21Gray only lost his mind because he loves me.
21:24Punish me, not him.
21:26Camera swung like howitzers.
21:28The flash storm was blinding.
21:31Nathan started forward.
21:32I stopped him cold.
21:37Let them through.
21:40Five years, Celeste.
21:42Five years, and this is how you repay me?
21:50I'm telling the truth.
21:53Mia masterminded everything.
21:56She's been jealous of Celeste since day one.
22:00Kept whispering that Celeste was sabotaging me.
22:04Laughing at me behind my back.
22:07The Aspen trip.
22:09Her idea.
22:11She said it was just a scare, a little humiliation to force the share transfer.
22:16He shoved every ounce of blame across the hallway, like it could save him.
22:22I'm just a secretary.
22:26Grayson resented Celeste for years, said she lorded her money over him, treated him like a charity case.
22:31He wanted revenge, told me to play along, or he'd destroy my family.
22:35I was trapped.
22:36Please help me.
22:38Two people, who used to finish each other's sentences, now tore each other apart like rabid dogs.
22:43Grayson finally ran out of oxygen and collapsed forward.
22:47The memories hit harder than any punch.
22:54The night we met at that Yale alumni mixer, me in a borrowed dress, laughing that, my family ran a
23:00couple hardware stores back in Pittsburgh.
23:03The week his startup was bleeding out and I slid term sheets across the table.
23:08Montgomery money laundered through a dozen blind trusts he never questioned.
23:12The flu that knocked him flat for six days, I sleeping upright in a plastic hospital chair with my hand
23:18on his IV.
23:22Every time I pointed out Nia's forged invoices and he snarled.
23:26You're just jealous and she's better at the job than you ever were.
23:30All those moments I thought were love, he'd seen as charity from a girl too naive to know her own
23:36worth.
23:45I wasn't some small town factory owner's daughter.
23:49I was the Montgomery heiress.
23:51And I'd wasted five years shielding his ego while he sharpened the knife.
24:00I lay perfectly still while the city's top orthopedic surgeons swapped temporary splints
24:05for titanium laced casts, light enough for prime time close ups.
24:20Whitmore Enterprises is iced.
24:22Every account, every patent, every square foot of real estate proceeds transferred directly to your personal restitution trust.
24:29Darknet rain been taken offline by cyber division.
24:33Every username, every crypto wallet.
24:35Our litigation team's filing suits faster than they can delete browser history.
24:39And the ex-lowbirds sang like canaries on Black Friday.
24:42Full confessions, cross corroborated, they're tight.
24:46They're looking at 15 to 20, easy, no parole.
24:54You sure you're ready for? What comes next?
24:58The board's already floating your name for CEO.
25:01Patriarch wants you in the corner office by New Year's.
25:04I flexed my new titanium laced forearm.
25:06Felt the bite of metal meeting bomb.
25:09Painful, perfect, permanent.
25:17Tell grandfather the prodigal's home.
25:19And this time, I'm not asking permission.
25:26I ignored him completely, nodded to Nathan.
25:30The 80-foot LED wall behind me flared to life.
25:33The Aspen backcountry filled the screen.
25:36My own screams echoed through the ballroom sound system.
25:39You said a real player could walk home naked, right?
25:42Let's test that theory.
25:49The room temperature seemed to drop 20 degrees.
25:53Grayson went whiter than the marble floor.
25:57This is the clarification.
25:59I am Celeste Montgomery, majority shareholder,
26:03and designated heir to Montgomery Global.
26:06Last night, my fiancé, Grayson Whitmore,
26:11in collusion with his executive assistant Mia Carrington,
26:16kidnapped me, drugged me, and attempted to murder me on a dark-knit last stream for sport.
26:25And the decision, effective immediately, Montgomery Global is initiating Chapter 7 liquidation of Whitmore Enterprises.
26:35Every asset, every patent, every offshore shell will be seized to compensate for emotional distress, physical damages, and five years
26:44of fraud.
26:47The double doors opened again, this time to a phalanx of U.S. Marshals in tactical vests.
26:54Grayson Whitmore, Mia Carrington, you are under arrest, kidnapping, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, attempted murder, and conspiracy to
27:04commit the same.
27:04You have the right to remain silent.
27:09Remember when you said I'd come crawling back once the money ran out?
27:13Turns out the money never left.
27:16You did.
27:17The marshals dragged them past rows of reporters, now shouting questions like machine gun fire.
27:22I stayed on the dais until the doors slammed shut behind the circus.
27:27Then I turned to the cameras one last time, voice steady as the empire at my back.
27:32Happy Thanksgiving, America. Justice is served cold. And today the Montgomery table is finally full.
27:43Nathan Hale stepped to my side, offered his arm for the walkout. In my head, I could already
27:49hear Patriarch Montgomery raising a glass to the granddaughter who finally came home.
28:04The trial had been a coronation in reverse. Every Montgomery lawyer in a 500-mile radius
28:10showed up in Zegna and vengeance. Evidence stacked higher than the jury's coffee cups.
28:15His public defender tried the crime of passion angle, temporary insanity, toxic masculinity,
28:20whatever buzzword might shave off a decade. It was like watching a toddler argue with a tsunami.
28:26It's all going according to plan. Your honor, new evidence.
28:37Gray, Celeste found the offshore transfers. What do I do?
28:41Let her bark. I'll just say she's jealous and trying to tank your career. Keep moving the money.
28:46Once we push her out, Whitmore Enterprises is yours.
28:48Push her out. Whitmore Enterprises is yours.
29:01Backstabbing bitch!
29:03You were a stepping stone Grayson. A very expensive one. I recorded everything in case you ever forgot who
29:10held the leash.
29:13he finally understood he'd never been the king he'd been the pawn she kept in the front row
29:19in case the queen decided to sacrifice something the judge didn't even look up from his notes
29:25mia carrington 15 years federal penitentiary credit for cooperation
29:30grayson whitmore kidnapping attempted murder commercial fraud conspiracy life imprisonment
29:37no parole political rights terminated for life
29:44celeste i'm sorry
29:50i'm sorry i'm sorry i'm sorry i'm sorry grayson's apology floated behind us
29:57thin and worthless as the paper jumpsuit he'd wear for the rest of his life
30:17you just beat my kill ratio ma'am the air force is gonna cry
30:21hands are better than ever book the gulf stream g 800 we're doing the globe run
30:27pole to pole 90 hours no stops
30:33swallowed three competitors before breakfast and still found time to get type rated in
30:38everything with wings you wasn't the girl who used to wait up with soup anymore
30:42i was celeste montgomery ceo in waiting heir to an empire that made nations blink
30:52prison mail whitmore 10th one this month summary same sob story he is sorry praise every night
31:01misses the old days blames mia says if she hadn't existed we'd be married by now
31:06wants one visit just one tell leavenworth we're done forwarding mail
31:13grayson whitmore died on that mountain as far as i'm concerned
31:17cremate the rest yes ma'am
31:24are you ready to face a new storm at 41 000 feet like making a cup of coffee yep
31:31just like the coffee you made every day i didn't slow down i didn't need to
31:38i was flying to everything
31:48montgomery estate aspen three days after thanksgiving the snow had stopped falling
31:53but the wind still howled like it wanted back in
32:03ma'am there's someone at the main gate
32:05who grayson whitmore's mother let her freeze copy that she's already been out there two nights
32:16security won't even give her coffee good when i feel like it i'll decide if she gets in not before
32:25oh and nathan make sure grayson gets the morning paper in his cell
32:31front page above the fold whitmore enter purses liquidated assets to montgomery heiress
32:38i want him to read it while he eats his thanksgiving leftovers cold
32:42already on the warden's desk ma'am day three i finally have them escort mrs whitmore to the east parlor
32:54celeste thank god celeste my son is an idiot a monster whatever you want to call him
33:03but he's still my only child
33:07i'm begging you look at what we meant to each other once
33:10find it in your heart
33:12auntie
33:14you seem confused your son didn't break my heart he committed felony kidnapping and attempted murder
33:21you want mercy file an appeal with the first circuit
33:28let me refresh your memory three years ago your heart was failing
33:33grayson couldn't scrape together 30 grand
33:35i sold my mother's watch the one she wore the day she died
33:38so you could have the best surgeon in boston
33:42you woke up took my hand and told me to stay out of men's business
33:49you mistook kindness for weakness
33:53you taught your son the same mistake
33:56now you're both learning the price
34:25now you're both learning the price
34:38Celeste, she loved me, there's more, Montgomery Legal just added commercial fraud to the
34:47indictment, they have your original pitch decks, every inflated revenue number, every
34:53fake vendor contract you use to impress her, back when you thought she was just just a
34:57girl with a trust fund
35:12they're saying he tried to hang himself with his jumpsuit, didn't get far let him
35:19live long enough to watch every cent he ever touched come home to me
35:26tell Legal to drop the papers, I'm taking the corner office January 1st
35:32and schedule a board meeting, it's time the world remembered what happens when you bet against
35:40Montgomery
35:40you heard the crowd, let's give our patrons what they paid for, he zoomed the camera and
35:50obscenely close, letting the lens trace the line of my collarbone, drift down the bruises on my ribs, hesitate
35:56over every inch of exposed skin, his greed felt physical, like oily fingers crawling over me
36:02you always said people should pay the price for their mistakes, Celeste
36:06now look at you, your arms are useless, you can't even dress yourself
36:10tell me, is this enough of a consequence to help you remember how much you hurt Mia?
36:15I was naked under the floodlight of the drone, stripped not only of clothing, but of privacy, dignity and safety
36:21I pressed my forearms tight against my chest, desperate to shield whatever fragments of myself I could still claim
36:30their laughter oozed into my ears, I felt bile burn into the back of my throat
36:34my broken bones scraped against the torn flesh of my arms
36:38and a cold sweat spread down my spine
36:41all this because I reported Mia's illegal flight
36:45for five years I helped build Whitmore Enterprises from the ground up
36:49for five years I used Montgomery resources and old money leverage to clear his path
36:54fight off his competitors and shield him from the consequences of his own incompetence
36:58I made him into something
37:00I took a scholarship kid with nothing but ambition and turned him into a rising star
37:05and now that he thought my family was losing influence
37:07now that he believed he no longer needed me
37:10he stripped me, threw me into the wilderness
37:12and broadcasted my suffering to the highest bitter
37:16Grayson laughed again, loud, cruel, almost giddy with the power he thought he held
37:21in that moment I realized he had never loved me
37:24he had only loved the way I made him feel powerful
37:26and now he wanted to prove he could destroy me just as easily
37:30make sure every paying creep in that channel has the time of their lives
37:34it's Thanksgiving, give the bosses something to be thankful for
37:43here's the deal Celeste, transfer 10% of Montgomery Global right now, right into Mia's name
37:48and I'll have that drone drop a thermal blanket before the wolves smell you
37:50otherwise, happy holidays
37:52Gray, babe, that's too much
37:55I can't take her shares
37:59Celeste probably hates me
38:01she's always acting like I'm not good enough to fly the G650
38:04bet she thinks I'm just some gold digging flight attendant
38:07you've been too busy closing that Alaska pipeline deal to finish your pilot's license
38:11too busy closing deals
38:13I almost laughed
38:14even as the aphrodisiac set my bloodstream on fire
38:17too busy riding Grayson's lap in the Whitmore boardroom
38:20I collapsed against the rotting pine needles
38:23every nerve screaming
38:24blood frozen scarlet icicles on my forearms
38:26where the fall had snapped both bones
38:28Grayson Whitmore you make me sick
38:30we're done
38:32the engagement over
38:34we're done
38:34we're done
38:34we're done
38:36we're done
38:36we're done
38:37we're done
38:37we're done
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