Chapter 12
The Hale perimeter crews received one message.
Wedding canceled.
Return home.
Half obeyed.
Half waited for Sebastian.
That divided his power immediately.
Sebastian heard and laughed.
“You think sending people home means they stop being mine?”
Rocco looked at him.
“No.”
“Then what?”
“It means they have to choose you without the wedding excuse.”
Sebastian’s smile weakened.
Outside, captains began calling.
Why was the ceremony canceled?
Why had twelve Hale men been found under the chapel wearing Serrano pins?
Why had Sebastian never told them?
Questions.
That was more dangerous to him than guns.
Celeste watched his phone light up.
Again.
Again.
Again.
He refused every call.
She smiled bitterly.
“Answer them.”
Sebastian looked at her.
“You're enjoying this?”
“No.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“I'm learning.”
He laughed.
“From Rocco?”
“From you.”
That wiped the smile away.
Celeste continued.
“You built everything around people believing your version first.”
Sebastian’s jaw tightened.
“So answer them.”
He did not.
Rocco looked toward Vincent.
“Bring in the Hale captains.”
Sebastian stepped forward.
“No.”
Rocco’s eyes moved toward him.
Sebastian smiled coldly.
“You have no authority over Hale.”
Rocco nodded.
“Correct.”
That surprised him.
Rocco continued.
“Celeste does.”
Everyone turned.
Her face changed.
Rocco looked at her.
“If they still recognize you.”
Celeste understood.
This was not forgiveness.
It was exposure.
A chance to see whether the people Sebastian claimed to command actually belonged to him.
Celeste straightened.
“Bring them.”
Sebastian laughed.
“You think they choose you?”
She looked at him.
“I think you're suddenly very afraid they might.”
His smile vanished.
Three Hale captains entered.
Celeste stood before them.
Sebastian remained beside the stone table.
One captain looked from brother to sister.
“What happened?”
Celeste answered:
“Sebastian planned an attack inside my wedding.”
Sebastian scoffed.
“She’s emotional.”
Celeste turned.
His tone sharpened.
“There.”
“This is why women don't run crews.”
One captain’s jaw tightened.
Sebastian continued.
“She gets embarrassed.”
“She gets sentimental.”
“She starts confusing betrayal with strategy.”
Celeste smiled coldly.
“You planned my death.”
Sebastian looked toward the men.
“She has no proof.”
Rocco said nothing.
Celeste did not need him.
She looked at the young Hale man who had surrendered.
“Tell them.”
He did.
The disguised wolf pins.
The gunshot signal.
The underground positioning.
The expected lockdown.
Sebastian’s face hardened.
One captain looked furious.
“You put our men under Serrano colors?”
Sebastian stepped closer.
“To win.”
“You made them targets.”
“To win.”
The second captain asked:
“Were we supposed to know?”
Sebastian hesitated.
Wrong.
Celeste smiled.
“There.”
The men saw it.
Sebastian knew.
His voice became contemptuous.
“You all want every detail now?”
“You were soldiers.”
“You go where you're placed.”
The first captain’s face hardened.
Sebastian continued.
“That is why none of you sit where I sit.”
The insult changed the room.
These were men who had followed him for years.
He had reduced them to expendable pieces in one sentence.
Rocco watched.
Sebastian’s arrogance did the work.
One captain removed the Hale pin from his lapel.
Placed it on the table.
Then another.
The third followed.
Sebastian stared.
“You think you walk away from me?”
The first captain looked at him.
“No.”
May you like
“We're walking away from a man who already planned where we'd die.”
Power left Sebastian one pin at a time.
