Mag-log inChapter 100 Celeste POV The wedding was nothing like the first one. The first one had been massive. Three hundred guests‚ most of whom I didn't know. A ceremony dictated by tradition and politics where I stood in a dress someone else chose and said vows someone else wrote and married a man who barely looked at me. I remembered feeling like a prop in someone else's production‚ moved around a stage for the benefit of an audience that didn't care whether I was happy. This one was small. Forty people in the garden behind the estate on a Saturday afternoon. "Mommy‚ you look so pretty!" Aurora was bouncing beside me in her white dress‚ holding a basket of flower petals that she had been instructed to scatter down the aisle but would probably throw in one aggressive handful instead. She had declared herself the little bride weeks ago and no one had the heart to correct her. "Thank you‚ baby." "I look pretty too‚ right?" "The prettiest." "Prettier than you?" "Much prettier
Chapter 99Darius POVI had been planning this for weeks.Every spare hour when Celeste was painting in her studio or playing with the kids or having coffee with Lena‚ I was on the phone with Rylan coordinating details. Every lunch meeting that I told her was pack business was actually me driving to the cemetery to check on construction progress. Every late night in my office that I blamed on paperwork was me reviewing designs with artisans I hired from three territories away.Rylan thought I was losing my mind."You called me at midnight to discuss flower species‚" he said during our last call. "Midnight‚ Darius.""Jasmine or wisteria. Which one climbs better in partial shade?""I'm your Beta‚ not a botanist.""Then find me a botanist.""It's midnight.""Rylan."He sighed. "Jasmine. It's hardier and it smells better. Can I go to sleep now?""One more thing. The marble wolf. The sculptor sent two options for the positioning. Lying on its side or curled up with its head on its paws.""
Chapter 98CELESTE'S POVI straddled him‚ pulling my shorts and underwear to one side while I positioned myself above him. The head of his cock pressed against my entrance‚ hot and blunt‚ and I sank down onto him in one slow motion that made us both groan.The stretch was intense in this position. He was deep‚ so deep I could feel him against my cervix‚ filling me completely while my thighs trembled on either side of his hips. I braced my hands on his shoulders and tried to breathe."Move‚" he said through gritted teeth. His hands were on my hips‚ gripping hard enough to leave marks. "Ride me‚ Celeste."I rolled my hips forward. The friction was devastating‚ his cock dragging against my front wall with every movement while the angle kept him buried to the hilt. I ground against him in slow circles‚ using his shoulders for leverage‚ and the sounds he was making beneath me were wrecked and desperate in a way that made me feel powerful."Faster." His fingers dug into my hips. "We're runn
Chapter 97CELESTE'S POVAround three in the afternoon‚ Aurora was starting to flag. Her steps were slower and she was leaning against Darius's leg while we stood near the food court deciding what to do next."I wanna ride the carousel again‚" Aurora said‚ yawning. "The one with the horses that go up and down.""I'll take her‚" Lena offered immediately. She had Ash balanced on one hip and reached for Aurora's hand with the other. "We'll do the carousel and then the little train ride. That should keep them busy for a while."She gave me a look. It was subtle but unmistakable. The kind of look that said go spend time with your husband‚ I've got the kids. Lena had been doing that all day‚ quietly steering the children away at strategic moments so Darius and I could have five minutes alone. I hadn't acknowledged it and neither had she but the understanding was there."You sure?" I asked. "Ash is getting heavy.""Please. This child weighs nothing." She bounced Ash to prove her point and he
Chapter 96Celeste POVDays blurred into weeks.Life without a crisis felt foreign to me‚ like wearing clothes that were too comfortable after years of armor. I woke up every morning without the immediate spike of fear that used to hit me before my eyes even opened. No one was drawing my blood. No one was taking my children. No one was scheming in the next room or plotting my downfall over breakfast.It was disorienting at first. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop‚ for someone to knock on the door with bad news‚ for the fragile peace to shatter the way it always had before. But the days kept passing and nothing terrible happened and slowly‚ gradually‚ my body started to believe what my mind already knew.Miranda was dead. It was over.Richard had come to see me the day after. He stood in my living room with his hands in his pockets and his shoulders curved inward and he said he was sorry. Not the performative kind of sorry that people offered when they wanted absolution. The k
Chapter 95Darius POVI was in my office that evening when Rylan walked in without knocking.That alone told me something was wrong. Rylan always knocked. It was one of those small courtesies he maintained regardless of how urgent the situation was‚ a habit from years of military training that he never dropped. So when the door swung open without warning and he stepped inside with that particular tension in his shoulders‚ I set down my pen and gave him my full attention."What happened?"Rylan closed the door behind him and stood there for a moment as if organizing the words in his head before speaking them. His face was carefully neutral but I had known this man for fifteen years and I could see the strain beneath the surface."I told Miranda‚" he said. "About Elena. Like you asked.""And?""She didn't react the way I expected." He moved further into the room but didn't sit. "When I told her Elena was gone‚ she just... stared at me‚ and I thought maybe she was in shock so I called fo
Chapter 44 Celeste's pov ~Two weeks earlier~ Sienna Vale. That was the woman looking straight at me through the mirror. And that was me. I leaned forward‚ studying every detail‚ the fuller cheeks‚ the healthier skin‚ the hair that had been cut and colored into something softer and warme
Chapter 41 Darius POV I hadn't slept. Not since the cemetery. Rylan had been across from me for four hours. His laptop was open‚ a stack of folders arranged in the precise way he arranged everything‚ by date‚ by source‚ by level of certainty. There was a cold cup of coffee at his elbow that nei
Chapter 40 Celeste’s POV The cemetery was quiet as I stood in front of my mother’s grave‚ holding the white lilies in my hands for a second before I bent down and placed them gently by the stone. She loved lilies. I hadn’t been here in three years. My chest tightened when I noticed how clean ev
Chapter 38 Darius POV Aurora sat on the examination table swinging her legs back and forth‚ completely unbothered by the fact that we had been here for over an hour. "If I'm very good and I don't complain once‚" she said seriously‚ "can I get two scoops of ice-cream?" "We can talk about it." "







