Or Both

Celeste's POV

“You want a divorce?” Henry's eyes grew wide the second I slammed divorce papers against his study desk.

“Yes. I do.”

The crack in his voice as he did a shocking, rather distracted sweep of my body, was rewarding.

“W-why? What happened? Did I do something wrong?”

I scoffed, the panic in his voice soothing to my soul.

“It's because I'm no longer in love with you, Henry.”

"What?" Confusion clouded his gaze.

His eyes darted everywhere but the papers.

“But how….how?”

“How is it possible that I could fall out of love with you? I'm not allowed to? I can't?”

His head shook, the careful, practiced softness he wore so well, slipping out like he knew it would work on me, like it always did.

“Don't do this. Whatever it is I'll change, I'll do better, please reconsider, are you in the right headspace? What about your meds…”

My meds…because I was crazy, right headspace, because I'm psychotic and I just decided to act on impulse.

My eyes rolled.

“I'm fine, so sign.”

He cast a disgusted look at the papers, and I narrowed my eyes on him. What was this man gaining in this marriage that he wouldn't just divorce me?

“Are our parents aware? Do you realize how ridiculous you sound? We are in love….”

A bitter laugh settled on my lips. In love?

“I'm an adult, why should they know I want a divorce?”

He let out an exaggerated, distressed sigh.

“Celeste, what's gotten into you?”

He rose up from the chair, towering over me.

“Sign the fucking papers, Henry. I have things to do. This marriage has been a bore, and I'm moving onto greater things—”

I spotted the exact moment his mask slipped like his patience had finally run thin.

“Who says you get to talk to me like that?”

My gaze lifted to meet his bloodshot eyes. This time, it was not a shock to me.

A menacing smile curved my blood red lips as I leaned over the desk, his eyes immediately dipping and beholding a generous amount of my cleavage.

There we go. I had the poor thing flustered, the shock evident on his face.

“You were saying?” My smile curved deeper when he barely dragged his eyes back to my face.

“There won't be any divorce, my love. I apologize for my tone earlier. Please, let's talk about this.”

He looked at me like I was still…her, like I was still the pathetic woman who would scramble towards the first sign of warmth he'd throw my way.

Well, that was for the old version of Celeste Millers. Not me.

With one last dismissive sweep of him, I turned around, and I gracefully walked right out.

He WILL sign those papers.

He WILL divorce me.

He must. I couldn't bear to be married to that man for a second more, the thought of it made me want to pull all my hair out.

My ears captured muffled whispering in the distance as I strutted across the long halls.

“What's gotten into the elder daughter?”

“Her style, right? I see skin!”

“She looks so different, so pretty!”

“Yes! She even has her hair down in curls! I almost didn't recognize her!”

The maids.

My cheeks flushed as something warm and victorious bloomed across my lips.

I headed straight for him. My mother's personal assistant.

I've been trying to get really familiar with him since I woke up that morning after everything, a second chance.

I prepared silently, got the papers and returned every smile Nancy would throw my way like she wasn't sleeping with my sorry excuse of a husband.

He was around, casually lounging in one of the balconies. My lips pressed together upon spotting him. He reflected who I used to be, but in this world, it's either eat or get eaten.

So I've been smiling at him, throwing in light conversations whenever our paths ‘crossed’ and basically made him feel seen.

All because there was something I needed that only he possessed.

My mother's key to her safe in her room.

It's in a bunch of keys he carries around.

“Hey…Corbin,” I called out to him and when he saw me, he wore a wide smile, his whole teeth out.

I slid into a seat next to him and color crept up his neck.

“I really like your new curls, ma'am.”

“I've told you it's Celeste, not ma'am.”

He still refused to call me by my name, and that's how I knew my work was done.

I ran my hands through my hair while I flashed him a suggestive look.

“I left something important in Mom's room. She stepped out and I really needed it. I wonder what I'll do now. And it's so urgent…”

I saw fleeting hesitation on his face before it dissolved.

“I'm not supposed to, but I can give you the key.” He dangled it right in my face, his cheeks flush.

“Oh, really? I'll be quick.” I took it.

“Sure, it's no problem.”

I barely made it out of his sight before a smile exploded in my face.

I rushed in, straight for the safe.

I needed any information I could get about my marriage and how to get out of it in case Henry decides to make my life difficult for a second time.

Anything I needed would definitely be in her safe. I soon started looking through the lengthy files.

My movements doubled, ears tuned

to the door for any hint of footsteps.

A file soon stopped me cold. I spotted my name first, then Henry's, tied to some merger situation I didn't understand.

Right on top of it, was the headings, Miller Pharma and Thorn Pharmaceuticals.

Kade’s company?

So, a merger.

What did I have to do with it?

I flipped more pages and paused when another distinct one came into view.

A contract signed by my mother and Henry.

“Do you need help?” The hairs on my back stood on end. Corbin's voice floated in from outside.

“No no it's okay—just, give me a minute, I'll be right out soon!”

My pulse slammed hard against my ribs before I forced it back under control.

I started looking through the contract terms, and that's when my entire system went rigid.

A choked gasp escaped me, tears rimming my eyes.

Henry never loved me.

Not for a day, did that man genuinely love me.

I held on to the edges of the table as my legs almost betrayed me.

Every fake charming smile, every flood of attention I so craved, until I gave in…was all to marry into my family.

The room seemed to tilt as the realization crashed into me all at once.

He was a deal broker who had earned a name for himself, so captivating in a way that would make you swoon over him. I was far too gone when he looked in my direction.

Mom reached out to him to facilitate a merger between him and Thorn pharmaceuticals around a year ago.

Apparently we needed them for their distribution network, so our company value would skyrocket overnight. Henry made a move on me when he realized that.

He didn't even need to do so much to marry me.

My eyes caught some odd financial records in Mom's signatures, and something in my chest seized even more tightly.

Series of inflated invoices.

They showed that mom had been embezzling funds from the company for years, and that wasn't even the part that made my heart sink.

Henry knew.

That was the contract they signed.

He was going to keep his mouth shut, remain married to me, and hold higher positions in the company, almost over her.

She hadn't just agreed to be kinder to him. She just didn't have a choice.

Looking back, I remembered the very day she started speaking highly of him.

My throat closed in, my fingers clenching around the file, trying to calm my raging nerves. Soon I let out a slow breath, and my hands eventually loosened.

Then I moved, fast.

I took out my phone and took photographs of every evidence as everything dawned on me.

I'd been so unknowingly obvious about my misery that Henry could spot me from across a room.

Nancy's marriage to Kade is supposed to seal the merger before it begins to commence.

That marriage will never happen. I'll make sure of it.

I started arranging the files back when one slipped and fell to the floor.

I reached for it, almost dropping it again the second my eyes ran through the first sentence.

It was a private agreement, with both Henry and my mother's written signatures, where they outlined how they would execute a hostile takeover of Thorn pharmaceuticals, using my marriage as a front.

Air left my lungs, my fingers once again trembling around the papers.

Kade Thorn showed me the harsh truth about my marriage in my past life.

I needed to warn him in return…or use him.

Or both.