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Chapter Two Hundred and Forty-One

Author: Anney GW
last update Last Updated: 2025-11-13 10:35:32
Celeste’s POV

Jenny pressed the send button on the newsletter for the third time and then sat back as if she’d run out of breath.

“It’s done. Finally.” Her voice was small with relief and a ridiculous, proud smile played at the corner of her mouth.

The line we’d modelled, female strength and friendship, the campaign that had been Jenny’s idea weeks ago, was finally going public.

We’d shelved it after the circus at Ryan’s engagement party and then the audit had been a roadblock, but now the world would see it.

Jenny’s inbox was already pinging. “A major magazine wants an interview. They want you and Grace together.”

Grace’s lips tightened.

Her eyes flicked to me with that complicated thing between us.

I felt my stomach roll under the old worry.

We’d been tense since the lock-and-break argument.

The silence hadn’t fixed anything. Press interviews were tidy on paper and jagged in truth.

“What do you want me to say?” I asked, because asking was easier than feeling.

“Tell the truth,” Jenny
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  • No Way to Win Me Back   Chapter Two Hundred and Fifty-Three

    Celeste’s POVThe first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was soft, golden light filtering through the half-closed blinds of my studio.Then, a breath later, I saw him.Ryan was still asleep beside me, one arm draped loosely around my waist, his face turned slightly toward mine.The faint rise and fall of his chest was steady, peaceful, maddeningly beautiful.His hair was tousled, shoulders partially covered by the throw blanket of the couch.We’d fallen asleep like this.For a long moment, I just watched him.The way the sunlight caught on his lashes, how his lips parted slightly as he exhaled.I told myself I wasn’t staring. I was just... appreciating art.“Are you cataloguing my flaws again?” he murmured suddenly, voice low and thick with sleep.I startled, then laughed quietly. “You were supposed to be asleep.”He cracked one eye open, lazy and teasing.“Hard to sleep when someone’s looking at me like they’re sketching me in their head.”“I wasn’t-”“You were.” He smiled, slow, kno

  • No Way to Win Me Back   Chapter Two Hundred and Fifty-Two

    Celeste’s POVThe last traces of sunlight had slipped away.I wasn’t sure when we’d stopped talking, when the air between us had grown heavy with something neither of us wanted to name, but I felt it, every glance, every brush of his hand as he adjusted a tool or a sketch.Ryan’s presence was magnetic.I could feel it drawing me in, like gravity I could no longer resist.I had given myself to him once. Giving into him a second time felt like an inevitability now.He stepped closer, and I realized he had been waiting, watching for the moment neither of us could delay any longer.“Are you not going home for the day today? Everything’s done with the paraiba. We’ll go together to submit it the day after.”I took a deep breath and motioned for him to enter the studio.“I… I’ve been meaning to say something to you,” I started, not where I was going with this.“When you confessed your love for me in front of all of those people, something inside of me just felt like it was too performative.”

  • No Way to Win Me Back   Chapter Two Hundred and Fifty-One

    Celeste’s POVThe morning light slanted through the studio windows.The Paraiba tourmaline sat in its final setting, the culmination of six weeks of sleepless nights, endless trials, and small victories no one else would ever see.I’d left Molly with my mother for the day. She had been thrilled to have her, and I knew the girl needed the gentle normalcy, a calm reprieve from the chaos of Rosemary Atelier.By noon, Rachel was putting the finishing touches on the display board, documenting every step of the gemstone’s story: from the old Portuguese mine to the fragile brilliance that had inspired every cut and curve.Grace was coordinating the shipping labels for the prototypes, ensuring nothing went astray, while Jenny double-checked press materials and layouts.Gideon, who had been quiet today, moved with that measured efficiency of his, anticipating every need without a word.I stood over the stone one last time, hands brushing its edges lightly, feeling its subtle warmth.It wasn’t p

  • No Way to Win Me Back   Chapter Two Hundred and Fifty

    Celeste’s POVThe rain had been falling for hours against the glass walls of the studio.Most of the team had gone home.Ryan was still here, sketching something under the warm pool of lamplight.I should’ve told him to leave hours ago, but neither of us said it out loud.“I didn’t realize how late it was,” I murmured, rubbing my temple. The clock on the far wall blinked 12:47 a.m.“You never do,” he said without looking up, pencil moving in easy strokes. “That’s your thing.”I smiled faintly. “And what’s your thing?”He looked up then, eyes green and amused. “Staying to make sure you don’t forget to eat. Or sleep. Or breathe.”I let out a soft laugh.Something in his tone, quiet but firm, made me look away.The rain hit harder now, a rhythmic tapping that seemed to sync with the pulse in my throat.I traced the rim of my coffee mug, half-empty and cold. “Do you ever get tired of this?”He tilted his head. “Of what?”“Of… holding everything together,” I said softly. “Trying so hard to

  • No Way to Win Me Back   Chapter Two Hundred and Forty-Nine

    Ryan’s POVIt started with a ping. Then another.By the fifth one, I knew something was wrong.Jenny came barreling into my office, phone in hand, eyes wide. “You need to see this.”I frowned. “What now?”She turned the screen toward me.A blurry photo, grainy, shot from someone’s phone, showed Celeste and me walking out of the airport with Molly between us.Celeste’s hand rested protectively on Molly’s shoulder while mine held the suitcase. Molly’s face was turned away, a pink hat covering most of her head.The headline screamed: “SECRET CHILD? Celeste Sinclair and Ryan Edwards spotted with mystery child in Belgium, hiding a family?”I blinked once. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”Jenny groaned. “I wish I was. It’s already on five gossip blogs and two jewelry forums. They’re speculating she’s your daughter.”“My… what?!” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “She’s six. How could I even hide a whole child for that long?”Jenny gave me a helpless look. “Logic isn’t their strong suit.”I sigh

  • No Way to Win Me Back   Chapter Two Hundred and Forty-Eight

    Celeste’s POVMolly sat cross-legged on the rug beside my desk, a box of colored pencils scattered around her.Her tongue poked out in concentration as she tried to copy one of Ryan’s sketches from the wall, a little bird perched on a gemstone.She had insisted on coming with me to the studio that morning, and though Grace had raised an eyebrow, I’d stood firm.“She’s been through too much,” I’d said. “Let her stay close until she’s ready for school again.”Now, watching her hum softly under her breath, I knew I’d made the right choice.The sparkle in her eyes was faint but alive again.I turned back to my workbench, where the Paraiba tourmaline lay under the light, that impossible blue-green, like a drop of the ocean frozen in crystal.Beautiful, yes. But fractured. The internal inclusions caught the light unevenly, scattering it like broken glass.I exhaled, leaning back. “It’s fighting me again.”Ryan looked up from across the table, where he was polishing a silver frame.“You say t

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