جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 590

Celeste’s POVBy the time I picked Molly up from school, the day already felt too loud.She came running out with her backpack bouncing against her shoulders, hair half-falling out of the braid I’d done that morning, grin wide and unguarded. That smile, so bright, so uncomplicated, grounded me instantly.“Mama Celeste!” she called, throwing herself into my arms like she hadn’t seen me in years instead of hours.“Hey, bug,” I said, laughing as I caught her. “Good day?”“The best,” she declared. “I got a star in math. And Auntie Gracie says stars are very serious business.”I smiled. Grace had that effect on children, making the world feel less sharp.We talked the whole ride home, Molly narrating her day with dramatic pauses and sound effects, until the car pulled up in front of my apartment building. I was halfway through reminding her to grab her lunchbox when I saw him.The journalist stood just beyond the entryway, leaning slightly forward, phone already in his hand, eyes lighting u

Celeste’s POVThe boxes lined the apartment hallway like a small, orderly army, labeled, taped, and stacked with a precision that betrayed how hard I was trying not to feel too much.Molly sat cross-legged on the living room floor, surrounded by open cartons, narrating her own excitement as she went. “This is my art stuff. This is my unicorn lamp. This is the sweater Uncle Ry-ry bought me that’s too big but he said I’ll grow into it.”Grace hovered nearby, one hand braced against her lower back, the other gripping a mug of ginger tea she hadn’t finished in an hour. Her eyes kept flicking around the apartment as if she were memorizing it for the last time.“You’re not dying,” she said faintly, as if reminding herself.“I know,” I said. “I’m moving twenty minutes away.”“Which is basically a different continent when you’re hormonal,” she replied, blinking rapidly.I stepped closer, lowering my voice. “Grace.”She looked at me then, really looked, and her face crumpled.“Oh God,” she said

Celeste’s POVThe penthouse was quiet in the way only very high places ever were, removed from street noise, insulated from urgency, wrapped in a hush that felt deliberate. Night pressed softly against the glass walls, the city below scattered into constellations of light.I lay on my side, tucked into Ryan’s chest, his arm heavy and warm around my waist, the steady rise and fall of his breathing grounding me.This had become our favorite position without either of us naming it. Like many things lately, it had just… happened.“Molly fell asleep in under ten minutes,” I murmured, tracing a lazy line along the fabric of his T-shirt. “No negotiation. No extra stories. No dramatic sighs.”Ryan huffed a quiet laugh, the sound vibrating against my cheek. “I feel oddly proud.”“You should,” I said. “She likes it here.”“She likes you here,” he corrected gently.I tilted my head back to look at him. His face was half-lit by the city glow, all clean lines and thoughtful shadows.“She likes us,”

Ryan’s POVThe name came down first.That was intentional.The Crown Luxe sign had dominated the lobby for decades, gold serif letters etched into stone, heavy with implication. Wealth. Permanence. Inheritance.I stood across the street that morning with my hands in my coat pockets, watching as the rigging team unbolted it piece by piece. No ceremony. No speeches. Just screws loosening, metal lifted away, history rendered portable.When the new sign went up, it was simpler. Cleaner.AURORANo crown. No family crest. Just a word that meant beginning.I didn’t smile. I didn’t feel like I was supposed to.Rebirth wasn’t celebratory. It was quiet. Deliberate. Almost reverent.Inside, the building felt different already. Same marble floors. Same glass elevators. But the atmosphere had shifted, like everyone had collectively released a breath they’d been holding since before I’d been born. Employees moved with something like cautious optimism, heads up, conversations lower but lighter.Not i

Ryan’s POVThe first flash went off before my shoe even hit the red carpet.Then another. And another. A rapid-fire staccato of light and sound that used to belong to another lifetime, one where I stood alone, perfectly composed, perfectly unreadable. Tonight, it felt different. Tonight, I felt… present.Celeste’s hand was in mine.Not tentative. Not hidden behind a half-step of polite distance. Her fingers were warm, steady, laced through mine like this was exactly where they belonged. Because it was.The Aurora insignia gleamed above the entrance, clean lines, luminous, intentional. No crown. No inheritance. Just light.“Ready?” I asked quietly, leaning in just enough that only she could hear.She smiled up at me, eyes calm, resolute. “I’ve been ready.”And then we stepped forward together.The cameras went feral.I heard my name shouted from at least three directions. Her name followed immediately after, clear, curious, hungry. The clicks were relentless, flashes painting the night