1

Celeste

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding as I turned in the lock with a metallic grind pushing the door open as the weight of my entire eight-hour shift sitting on my shoulders.

My feet ached a deep throbbing pain that shot up my calves with every step I take into my boyfriend Ethan's apartment

“Ethan?” I called out my voice raspy. “I’m home...Sorry my shift ran late we had a last-minute rush to clean everything.”

I dropped my bag by the door the familiar routine of kicking off my worn-out sneakers feeling like a monumental task.

I've been looking forward to coming and falling on Ethan's comfortable couch just so he could rub my feet while I listen to him rant about his family's endless issues.

My stare moved to the silky emerald green blouse draped over the back of the sofa was a silky which isn't mine, I could never afford anything that looked so expensive.

I frowned as I walked closer my fingers brushed against the fabric, next to it on the floor was a black lace skirt.

A cold knot began to tighten in my stomach.

“Ethan?” I called again my voice quieter now laced with a new creeping fear.

That’s when I heard it.

A sound from down the hall from his bedroom.

A low throaty laugh I knew all too well, It was a laugh I heard every day barking orders across the cafe.

My boss Amber then I heard Ethan’s laugh mingling with hers.

My heart wasn’t just beating; it was trying to escape my chest as my feet felt so heavy a moment before,

The sounds got louder, more distinct as I walked to his room.

I stopped at the half-open doo my hand trembled as I pushed it the wood swinging inward without a sound.

And there they were.

Ethan, the man I loved for two years the man who told me I was his future was tangled in the sheets with Isabella.

Her dark hair was fanned out over his pillow with their clothes were scattered on the floor a trail leading right to the bed.

A gasp ripped from my throat that I couldn't hold back.

Their heads snapped towards me and for a second there was only stunned silence.

Isabella’s eyes a cold calculating blue widened for a fraction of a second before a slow smug smile spread across her face not bothering to even bother to cover herself.

Ethan’s face went pale then flushed red. “Celeste!” he stammered scrambling to sit up. “What… what are you doing here?”

“I live here,” I whispered the words barely audible as my whole body was shaking. “At least… I thought I did.”

Isabella let out a little laugh draping the sheet over herself with a lazy grace. “Oh honey you weren’t supposed to see this.”

I couldn’t look at her my eyes were locked on Ethan. “What is this?” I asked my voice gaining a little strength fueled by a rising tide of hurt. “Ethan? What is going on?”

He ran a hand through his messy hair avoiding my gaze. “Celeste look… it’s not what you think.”

“Not what I think?” I repeated a hysterical laugh bubbling in my throat. “I think I’m seeing you in bed with my boss Ethan! What else could it possibly be?”

“It just happened okay?” he said, his voice turning defensive. “These things happen.”

“These things don’t just happen!” I cried my voice cracking. “We’ve been together for two years... two years fucking years you asshole! We were talking about getting married!”

He finally looked at me and the expression in his eyes made my blood run cold.

It wasn’t guilt if I wasn't mistaking I'd say It was… annoyance like I was a fly buzzing around his head.

“That’s the problem Celeste,” he said, his voice cold and flat. “All that talk marriage and waiting. It’s childish.”

“Childish?” I felt like I’d been slapped.

“Yes childish!” he snapped getting out of bed and pulling on his boxers. “Look at you Celeste you work in a cafe... Everyday you come home smelling like coffee and old pastries you wear the same three sweaters every week...You don’t fit in my world.”

Each word was a knife twisting deeper. “My world? What does that even mean?”

“It means I’m a Throne! My family literally owns New York... you expect me to be with a poor woman with no class like mine? I need a woman with class with connections just like mine.”

Isabella smiled, preening like a cat. “He’s right you know sweetie. You’re a sweet girl but you’re just not on his level.”

I stared at him my vision blurring with tears. “So that’s it? Because I’m not rich? Because I don’t have ‘connections’? I told you when we first met and you told me you were a Thorne, I told you we couldn't be together cause a of your status but you made me believe otherwise, What about all the times you said you loved me? What about our plans?”

“Plans change,” he said with a shrug that shattered my soul. “ I thought I loved you too but it was mere infatuation and you never feed my desire... how do you expect me to not have sex for two fucking years!? What are you a nun? Saving it for some magical wedding night? It’s pathetic.”

The air left my lungs. “We agreed,” I whispered the tears now streaming down my face. “We both agreed to wait until we were married. You said you respected that you said it was special!”

Ethan laughed a harsh ugly sound with Isabella joining in.

“Oh my God you really are that naive,” Isabella sneered. “No man like Ethan is going to wait that long for a girl like you Celeste. It’s 2025. Grow up.”

“She’s right,” Ethan said his arms crossed. “It’s over Celeste...I don’t want you anymore I never did.”

“No,” I pleaded the humiliation burning through me but the fear of losing him was stronger. “Ethan please we can work this out we can talk about it... I love you please.”

I took a step towards him my hand outstretched. He looked at my hand like it was covered in dirt.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” he said, his voice final. “I want you to leave now! Take your stuff and get out.”

“But… where will I go?” I sobbed my body trembling uncontrollably.

“I don’t care,” he said, turning his back to me. “just get out of my apartment.”

The finality in his voice broke me.

There was nothing left, no love, no respect, not even a shred of kindness.

I stood there for a moment frozen watching the back of the man I thought I would spend my life with while Isabella gave me a triumphant little smirk.

My phone ringing snapped me out of my train of thoughts the shrill sound jolted me. I fumbled in my pocket my hands shaking so badly I almost dropped it.

The screen flashed with a hospital number.

My blood ran cold. “Hello?” I choked out.

“Is this celeste Flynn?” a calm professional voice asked.

“Yes... yes it is .”

“Ms. Flynn I’m calling from St. Jude’s Hospital... your father Steven Flynn was brought in this evening. He had a severe heart attack you need to come to the ICU immediately.”

The ground fell away from beneath me. “What? Is she… is she okay?”

“Please just come as quickly as you can,” the nurse said and the tone in her voice told me everything.

I don’t remember hailing the cab I don’t even remember the ride all I remember is the frantic beating of my own heart a frantic prayer on a loop in my mind.

Please not him.

Not him too.

Please God no.

I burst through the hospital doors as my breath coming in ragged gasps. “My Father Steven Flynn! ICU!” I shouted at the front desk.

A nurse pointed me down a long sterile-smelling hallway.

I found the ICU waiting room It was empty as I paced back and forth my worn sneakers squeaking on the polished floor.

Back and forth.

Back and forth.

Each second felt like an hour as my mind a whirlwind of images Ethan’s cold face as he ended things and Isabella’s smirk and my grandmother’s kind wrinkled smile as she told me everything will be okay.

He’s gone.

Dad can’t be gone too.

He can’t be.

After mum died… dad gave his life away to drugs and alcohol, it’s like when mum died she took her heart with her.

We lost everything after she passed three years back, the company, everything.

I had to work myself out and dropout of college to make ends meet, to be able to afford dad’s medicine for his chronic heart disease.

After what felt like a lifetime a doctor in a white coat walked from the double doors looking tired.

His eyes found me and the pity in them made my knees buckle I had to grab a chair to steady myself.

“Ms. Flynn?” he asked softly.

“Yes that’s me. How is he? Can I see him?”

He took a slow breath. “I’m Dr. Evans. We did everything we could for your father, we performed CPR for a long time but the damage to his heart was too extensive.”

I shook my head not wanting to hear the words. “No. No just let me see him. I need to talk to her.”

“I’m so sorry,” he said and his voice was genuinely heavy with sorrow. “He didn’t make it... he passed away a few minutes ago.”

A scream tore from my throat, raw and guttural. “NO! No you’re lying just check again! Please! You have to check again!”

I collapsed to the floor the cold linoleum pressing against my cheek. “No, no, no,” I chanted beating my fist weakly against the ground. “Not him too, please not him .”

The doctor knelt beside me his hand a gentle weight on my shoulder. “I am so very sorry for your loss.”

I couldn’t hear him it's like the world had shrunk to this single devastating point of pain.

Ethan was gone.

Dad was gone.

My heart which I thought was broken before now felt like it had been ripped from my chest and shattered into a million pieces.