Chapter 14
Celeste expected Rocco to speak to her privately.
He did not.
He spoke in front of Donna.
Nora.
Vincent.
Matteo.
The same people she had dismissed.
Her engagement ring sat inside a clean glass bowl now.
Rocco had ordered it retrieved from the dirty basin.
Not to return it.
To make the ending unmistakable.
Celeste looked at the ring.
Then at him.
“You're really doing this.”
“Yes.”
Her lips curved.
“You'll regret it.”
Rocco said nothing.
That angered her.
She stepped closer.
“You think Donna wins?”
Donna lowered her eyes.
Rocco’s face hardened.
“This was never a contest.”
Celeste laughed.
“Of course it was.”
She pointed toward Donna.
“She knew.”
“From the first dinner.”
“She looked at me like she was measuring how long I'd last.”
Donna lifted her head.
Celeste continued.
“She made me feel like a visitor in the house I was supposed to enter as your wife.”
Donna spoke quietly.
“You were a visitor.”
Celeste stared.
Donna added:
“Until the wedding.”
The simplicity enraged her.
Celeste’s voice sharpened.
“There.”
“That smug little distinction.”
“You enjoyed it.”
Donna shook her head.
“No.”
“You just hated hearing that a ring wasn't a crown.”
Celeste’s face tightened.
Nora almost smiled.
Celeste caught it.
Her eyes snapped toward the maid.
“What are you smiling at?”
Nora froze.
Celeste stepped toward her.
“Do you think because Rocco defended you tonight, you became somebody?”
Rocco’s eyes hardened.
Celeste kept going.
“You'll still wake tomorrow and make beds.”
“You'll still clean rooms.”
“You'll still enter through staff doors.”
Nora’s eyes filled.
Celeste smiled.
“Don't confuse being useful during a scandal with having a place at the table.”
Donna stood.
Slowly.
Her forehead still bruised.
She moved beside Nora.
Celeste laughed.
“Oh, perfect.”
“Two servants now.”
Rocco’s voice dropped.
“Donna.”
His mother looked at him.
He did not stop her.
Donna faced Celeste.
“Nora stayed with me when you kicked me.”
Celeste rolled her eyes.
“She’s paid.”
Donna shook her head.
“No.”
“She stayed after you threatened her.”
Celeste’s mouth tightened.
Donna continued.
“That tells me more about her place in this house than any ring tells me about yours.”
Silence.
Nora looked down, crying.
Celeste stared.
Then laughed bitterly.
“How touching.”
She turned toward Rocco.
“You're choosing a maid and an old woman over Hale power.”
Rocco looked at the ring.
Then back at her.
“No.”
“You keep misunderstanding.”
His voice became dead calm.
“I’m choosing what remains after power is gone.”
Celeste’s expression shifted.
Rocco pushed the ring bowl across the table.
“Take it.”
She did not.
Her chin lifted.
“I don't take discarded jewelry.”
Rocco looked at her.
“Then leave it.”
That hurt more.
She wanted drama.
He denied her even that.
Celeste’s eyes became cold.
“You think Sebastian was the only person who wanted your house divided?”
Rocco stared.
There.
One final weapon.
She smiled.
“Ask Vincent why he came so quickly when I invited him.”
Vincent’s face changed.
Rocco turned.
Celeste saw it and smiled wider.
“Thought so.”
Vincent’s jaw tightened.
Rocco looked at his uncle.
“Why?”
Vincent exhaled.
“I wanted to hear what they were offering.”
Donna looked at him.
Celeste laughed.
“Such noble phrasing.”
Vincent ignored her.
Rocco's voice remained steady.
“And?”
Vincent looked directly at him.
“For ten minutes…”
A pause.
“I considered it.”
The room went quiet.
Not because Vincent had joined the coup.
Because one of Rocco’s closest blood relatives had genuinely wondered whether Adrian? No, Sebastian/Celeste could offer something better.
May you like
The conspiracy was ending.
But the dissatisfaction that made it possible had not disappeared.
