Chapter 5: What Celeste Knew

Celeste.

Her name flashed on Nathaniel’s phone, and now, it had a face.

A face I hated for being so impossibly beautiful.

Not the kind of beauty that clamored for attention. No, she was the quiet, expensive kind. Soft waves of dark hair framed her delicate features, pale skin glowing under the mansion’s opulent lights. Her red lips curled into a smile that seemed to belong to this world more than I ever would in my faded dress.

When she looked at me, it felt as if I had wandered into a space she had long claimed as her own.

“The woman he promised not to replace,” she said, her voice a smooth whisper that echoed in the now silent hallway.

Behind me, Nathaniel remained motionless, a statue of cold indifference.

That hurt more than it should have.

He offered no explanation, no denial, just a stoic presence, as if my humiliation was merely another family matter he would resolve later.

Adrian moved first, stepping beside me. The warmth of his shoulder brushed against mine, a quiet promise of solidarity. “What are you doing here, Celeste?”

Her eyes flicked to him, sharp and calculating.

“Adrian,” she replied softly, like a blade disguised as silk. “Still appearing where you’re not needed.”

His jaw clenched, and I could feel the tension pulse between them.

Of course, they knew each other. Of course, I was the only one navigating this minefield, blind to the loaded histories swirling around me.

Celeste turned her gaze back to me, a predatory glint in her eyes. “I wanted to meet the bride.”

“You could have sent flowers,” I shot back, the words surprising even me.

Her smile widened, amusement dancing in her gaze.

Maybe it was the sleepless nights, or the suffocating weight of the contract binding me to Nathaniel, but I was exhausted, tired of being the only one expected to don the mask of politeness while they all savaged my dignity.

Celeste chuckled. “You have spirit.”

“And you have terrible timing.”

Adrian let out a soft sound beside me, almost a laugh, that made the corner of my mouth twitch.

Nathaniel’s gaze snapped to him, a silent warning crackling in the air.

Celeste caught the exchange, her eyes flitting between Adrian and me, then landing back on Nathaniel. “Oh,” she said, her voice low. “So it is true.”

My stomach dropped. “What is true?”

“No,” Nathaniel said, his voice a low growl, controlled but edged with something raw.

Celeste ignored him, her words slicing through the tension. “You slept with Adrian before marrying Nathaniel.”

Heat flared in my cheeks as shame crawled up my spine, and Adrian’s hand balled into a fist beside me. Nathaniel’s expression remained inscrutable, but his eyes darkened with unspoken fury.

Once again, my vulnerability was laid bare by those who had no right to it.

I drew in a shaky breath, forcing myself to meet Celeste’s gaze. “And you’re still texting another woman’s husband before breakfast.”

Her smile faltered, just for a moment, but I caught it.

Adrian’s eyes met mine, and in that fleeting moment, I saw warmth; pride, maybe even affection. It made my heart skip, but Nathaniel noticed.

“Celeste, leave,” he commanded, his voice cold.

She turned to him slowly, her eyes soft yet filled with an ache that felt all too familiar. “You didn’t tell her about me.”

Nathaniel fell silent, the weight of his words hanging heavy.

“You told me she was only a contract,” she added.

My throat tightened at the word - contract. I’d felt it in the marrow of my being, but hearing it spoken made it uglier.

Celeste stepped closer to Nathaniel, but not close enough to touch, just enough to remind me of the intimacy they once shared. “You told me nothing would change.”

Nathaniel’s jaw moved once in a barely restrained gesture. “This is not the place.”

“Then where is the place?” Her voice trembled. “Your study? Your bed? The room where you promised me she would never matter?”

Everything inside me froze. I turned to him, my heart racing.

“The room?”

For the first time, Nathaniel looked at me as if he wished I hadn’t heard that.

I laughed softly, a sound so foreign it stung. “So that’s why you left me alone on our wedding night.”

“Claire,” he warned, a sharp edge to his tone.

“No.” My voice quivered but remained firm. “Don’t say my name like it’s meant to evoke understanding. You married me, brought me here, and abandoned me while she waited somewhere else with your promises?”

Celeste’s expression shifted, not victorious but something softer - guilt.

I hated that feeling. I wanted her to be easy to despise, yet she looked at me like a fellow prisoner, trapped on the opposite side of a mirrored cage.

“I loved him first,” she whispered, her words laced with a pain I understood all too well.

It should've ignited my anger, but instead, it pierced my heart. I understood her desperation, her need to be chosen, to be the one who was right in someone’s eyes.

But Nathaniel hadn’t chosen her. He hadn’t chosen me either. He had chosen control.

“Claire, come with me,” Adrian said, stepping closer, his voice gentle.

Nathaniel’s gaze snapped to him, a fierce warning. “Do not.”

Adrian held his ground, a sardonic smile on his lips. “What? Afraid she’ll follow the brother who actually care?”

In a heartbeat, Nathaniel moved, a blur of motion. One second he was by the study door, the next he stood in front of Adrian, fury radiating off him. “Do not test me.”

Adrian didn’t flinch. “You married her to test me.”

The air crackled with tension.

Celeste fell silent, watching with bated breath.

I turned back to Nathaniel, and he didn’t deny it.

An icy dread settled in my stomach.

Adrian turned to me, his voice softer now, almost pleading. “Claire.”

For a moment, I wanted to reach for his hand, not because I trusted him completely; I didn’t. But because he looked at me with regret, as if he wished none of this was happening.

Then I remembered his earlier words: We all have choices, Claire.

So I made one.

I walked past both brothers, past Celeste, past the servants who pretended not to watch.

No one stopped me this time. Maybe they finally understood; I wasn’t leaving because I was weak. I was leaving because staying would shatter me in front of them.

I reached the main staircase when Celeste’s voice followed me, soft and haunting.

“You should ask him something, Claire.”

I hesitated, hating myself for it.

Slowly, I turned back.

Celeste stood there, those beautiful, wounded eyes piercing through me.

“Ask Adrian why he was at that hotel bar three months ago.”