Chapter 7
I ended the engagement before noon.
No audience.
No humiliation.
Celeste sat across from me in the morning room.
Ring on.
I looked at it once.
Then at her.
“It’s over.”
She cried.
I expected anger.
Instead:
“I know.”
That made it worse.
She removed the ring.
Placed it on the table.
Then asked:
“Do you think I wanted Gabriel dead?”
“I think you wanted the problem gone.”
She flinched.
“Yes.”
“That distinction matters to you more than it does to me.”
She nodded.
At least she understood.
Then:
“I loved you.”
Past tense.
Maybe because she already understood the future was gone.
“I believe you.”
Her face broke.
People expect betrayal to prove love was fake.
Often it proves love was insufficient.
Different.
She loved me.
She also loved the life built around me.
The certainty.
The status.
The belonging her father had spent decades building toward.
Gabriel’s return threatened all of it.
So she chose preservation.
I asked:
“Did your father ever tell you he regretted what he did?”
Celeste wiped her face.
“Yes.”
That surprised me.
“When?”
Near the end.
Alistair said separating brothers had been easy.
Living with what came after had not.
My father died still believing one son betrayed him.
Gabriel lived eight years without family.
I became colder.
More dependent on Alistair.
His victory tasted worse with time.
“Why keep the film?”
“He said he couldn’t destroy the only thing proving Gabriel innocent.”
Cowardly conscience.
Enough guilt to preserve truth.
Not enough courage to reveal it.
Celeste inherited both.
She knew.
Kept silent.
Then tried to stop the truth when it started moving toward me.
I looked at her.
“Your father built our relationship before we ever met.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
I waited.
“He created the space.”
Good distinction.
“He didn’t make me love you.”
True.
“And he didn’t make you lie.”
Her eyes closed.
Also true.
Before leaving, Celeste asked about Nora.
“Is she why you knew?”
“Yes.”
“She destroyed everything.”
“No.”
My voice stayed low.
“She spoke one sentence.”
May you like
Then:
“Everything else was already broken.”
