Chapter 7 - Celeste Had Been Trying to Remove Audrey for Months
Once Warren reminded me of the protective clause, a dozen strange moments from the past year rearranged themselves into something uglier.
Celeste had constantly tried to edge Audrey out.
At first it sounded reasonable.
“Maisie’s getting older. Maybe she doesn’t need a nanny full-time.”
Then it became sharper.
“Audrey makes decisions like she owns the place.”
Then sharper still.
“She forgets she works for us.”
I had argued back each time, but not strongly enough. I kept defending Audrey while still asking her to “be patient” and “give Celeste time.”
That was my mistake.
Because now we had context.
If Audrey was the protective steward Nora had chosen, then Celeste didn’t just dislike her personally.
She needed her gone.
She needed Audrey weakened, discredited, or removed from the house before the transfer happened.
That explained the small reports Celeste had quietly created over the months: exaggerated notes about Audrey’s “poor boundaries,” accusations that she made Maisie “too dependent,” complaints that she “inserted herself into family decisions.”
Individually, they had seemed petty.
Together, they looked like groundwork.
Celeste had been building a case.
Not for household peace.
For displacement.
May you like
And if I had signed those papers that afternoon, I might have handed a calculating woman enormous authority while helping her push out the one person my late wife had trusted to stop exactly that kind of disaster.
---
Related Stories
