Chapter 1
“Nora. Who was she calling?”
Nora swallowed.
Celeste’s hand pressed harder against the phone hidden inside her gown pocket.
The ballroom had become so quiet I could hear a fork settle against china three tables away.
Nora looked directly at me.
“Cole Mercer.”
My body went still.
Cole had driven for Ashford twelve years.
He was supposed to be at the north gate tonight.
Waiting for one specific guest.
My younger brother.
Gabriel.
I had not seen him in eight years.
No one in the ballroom knew I had invited him.
No one except Celeste.
“What exactly did she say?”
Nora’s breathing remained shallow.
“She said, ‘Before Gabriel reaches the house, make it look like an accident.’”
Celeste closed her eyes.
That was confession enough.
I turned toward Rafe.
“North road.”
He was already moving.
Three bodyguards followed.
Celeste stepped toward me.
“Damian, listen—”
I raised one hand.
She stopped.
Not because I touched her.
Because my voice had not changed.
“Why did you know Gabriel was coming?”
She stared.
I had told her two nights earlier.
Not the staff.
Not the captains.
Her.
Because I thought my future wife deserved to know I was trying to repair the ugliest wound in the Ashford family.
Gabriel had been exiled at twenty-four.
Accused of betraying our father.
Accused of feeding private family movements to a rival crew.
I believed it.
My father believed it.
Celeste’s father had supplied the evidence.
Alistair Ward.
Dead now.
Conveniently.
Nora whispered:
“There was more.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
Celeste snapped:
“Enough.”
I ignored her.
Nora continued.
“She said, ‘If he gets inside, Damian hears everything.’”
The engagement ring on Celeste’s hand caught the chandelier light.
Beautiful.
Cold.
Suddenly ridiculous.
I looked at her.
May you like
“What exactly was my brother coming here to tell me?”
For the first time since I had known Celeste Ward, she looked afraid of the answer more than she looked afraid of me.
