Chapter 6 - Grant’s Version
Grant requested an interview through his attorney.
No plea yet.
He wanted to “correct misconceptions.”
Prosecutors attended.
Corporate counsel did not treat it as casual conversation.
Grant admitted the affair.
Admitted secret debt.
Admitted some unauthorized payments.
Denied forging my signature.
He blamed Celeste.
“She handled vendor documents.”
Possible.
Then my security token.
He admitted taking it.
Why?
“Mara was in labor. We needed continuity.”
That answer almost impressed me for audacity.
He took my token two nights before labor.
“How did you know she’d be incapacitated?”
Grant:
“She was due.”
Then the board resolution.
“Draft contingency.”
Medical letter?
“Celeste gave it to me.”
Did he know fake?
Grant said no.
Then River North sale.
“A legitimate financing strategy.”
Two deals under threshold?
“Different buyers.”
They were related vehicles.
Grant claimed he did not know.
Then GCE transfers.
“Consulting income.”
From vendors he supervised.
Conflict.
Not disclosed.
Then Paris.
“Personal.”
One way tickets?
“We planned to return later.”
No return reservation.
Then abandonment in garage.
Grant said:
“I went to get car.”
Video showed him taking stairwell to an upper service office, not vehicle level.
He admitted he “checked one corporate matter first.”
My stolen token.
Then black case.
“Travel documents.”
Cash?
“Emergency travel funds.”
Three hardware tokens?
“Corporate contingency.”
Julia Denton’s token?
He said she left it with him when she resigned.
Julia denied.
Mine?
“Borrowed.”
Without permission.
Then why disable cameras?
Grant:
“Construction privacy.”
Jonah’s body camera showed Celeste attack.
Grant was not present during the physical assault.
Important.
He did not order it.
No evidence.
Then investigators asked:
“Did you know Celeste intended to go to Lisbon?”
Grant stared.
“What?”
They showed booking.
His face changed.
“She wasn’t.”
Ticket.
Hotel.
Private transfer.
Then the $620,000 account solely hers.
Grant became silent.
For the first time, he looked less like a strategist and more like a man realizing his mistress had built a second fraud inside their first.
His attorney asked for break.
Afterward Grant changed tone.
He admitted Celeste created some entities without telling him.
Then:
“She said she was holding money for us.”
Then prosecutors:
“Did you know money came from inflated Ellison Meridian invoices?”
Grant looked down.
“Yes.”
There.
First clean admission.
Then:
“Did Mara authorize?”
“No.”
“Did the board?”
“No.”
“Did you intend to repay?”
Grant said:
“Yes.”
Of course.
When?
“After River North.”
Future repair.
Then:
“Did you intend to use proceeds from River North to pay Wynn vendors?”
“Yes.”
“Were those obligations legitimate?”
“Some.”
“How much?”
He could not say.
Then medical leave.
Grant admitted drafting the temporary CEO resolution.
He said he believed the board would approve once I delivered.
Why forge signatures?
He denied.
Then a digital forensic report arrived.
The resolution file had been created on Grant’s laptop.
Director signatures were copied from an earlier unanimous consent.
Grant said Celeste had remote access.
Possible.
Then metadata showed edits under Grant’s user profile at 2:11 a.m. three weeks earlier.
Still not absolute proof who touched keyboard.
But strong.
Then a text.
Grant to Celeste:
Reyes signature looks clean.
Celeste:
Mara’s?
Grant:
Use the tax credit consent version.
There.
He had instructed.
The lie ended.
Grant lowered his head.
Then prosecutors asked:
“Why?”
He answered:
“Because I was drowning.”
Debt.
Shame.
Affair.
Need to look successful beside me.
Then:
“She built everything.”
He meant me.
“I was supposed to be the one who understood operations.”
Then:
“Every year she got richer and I got more irrelevant.”
I was not there.
Helena later told me.
Grant said:
“I thought if River North closed under me, people would finally see me as equal.”
That did not make sense financially.
May you like
It made sense emotionally.
And sometimes the most expensive crimes begin with an emotion pretending to be a business plan.
