Semua Bab Breaking The Spotlight: Bab 101 - Bab 110

They didn’t tell anyone where they were going. No press trailing them through airport gates. No well-meaning friends or intrusive family asking for photos of white sand beaches and sunset dinners. It was just a private jet, a dawn landing on a tiny private strip off the Amalfi coast, and a drive up a winding cliff road so narrow Celeste’s heart raced every time the tires kissed the edge.When they reached the villa, Damien didn’t let the driver linger. He carried their single overnight bag himself, dropped it just inside the door, and locked it behind them.He didn’t say a word.Celeste could feel it, the silence vibrating off his skin. The way his eyes pinned her like a promise. No more hiding. No more running. No more glass between them and the world. Just them, raw and real. Husband and wife.He backed her against the nearest wall before she could breathe. His mouth crashed onto hers so hard her teeth knocked together, and she gasped into him, fingers scrabbling at his shoulders, n

The black car slid to a stop just past the barricades, its windows dark as ink against the harsh theater lights and the thunder of the press line. It was just past seven on a warm Thursday night, the night Hollywood liked to call itself timeless, when all the ghosts of the industry dressed up and danced under a thousand camera flashes.Inside the car, Celeste sat very still. The silk of her gown pooled around her like spilled champagne, soft, shimmering, impossible to pin down. Her fingers traced the line of her clutch resting in her lap, the tips brushing over the tiny hidden stitches where Marisol had sewn the silk by hand.Across from her, Damien watched. Not with the possessive calculation he used to wear to these things, back when the carpet was a chessboard and every camera flash a dagger to be turned or deflected. Tonight, his eyes were softer. Still sharp, yes, they always would be, but edged with something gentler. Fierce, but quiet.“You ready?” he asked, voice low, intimate

They left Santa Barbara at dawn. No fanfare, no security convoy, just the hush of winding roads and the salty tang of the ocean air creeping through the cracked windows. Celeste sat barefoot, legs pulled into Damien’s lap, her head resting against the passenger window, eyes half-closed as the first soft fingers of sun spilled over the cliffs.She almost drifted off, lulled by the gentle rock of the car and the warm weight of Damien’s hand tracing idle circles on her knee.“Where are we going?” she murmured.Damien didn’t answer right away. His eyes were fixed on the road ahead, jaw relaxed in that rare, boyish way she’d come to love more than any red-carpet version of him. When he finally spoke, his voice was low but sure. “Home.”She lifted her head, brows knitting. “We have a home.”“You’ll see.”They curved off Highway 1 onto a private turnoff she didn’t recognize, a narrow lane that wound through eucalyptus groves and coastal brush until it opened onto a bluff, the ocean spread wi

They moved into the beach house on a Tuesday morning when the fog hadn’t yet burned off the Pacific. The movers came at dawn, all soft footsteps and cardboard boxes stacked like towers in the glass-walled living room. By ten, it was just them: Celeste barefoot on the polished concrete floors, Damien in rolled-up sleeves, sleeves dusted with salt air and sunlight.The house perched above the surf, built into the cliff the way Celeste sometimes imagined she’d been built into Damien, raw edges, solid foundations, waves pounding at the walls but never pulling it loose. Floor-to-ceiling windows. Pale wood and steel beams that felt both modern and timeless. A promise of permanence in an industry where everything else slipped like sand through fingers.It was Damien’s vision, his gift to her, though he’d never called it that. He’d bought the lot while she was halfway across the world shooting Afterlight, long before the Veronica scandal detonated her life, long before they’d found their way

The invitation came stamped in heavy gold foil, the kind of gala that dripped old money and new gossip, a charity masquerade where the real currency wasn’t the donations but the headlines made at the door.Celeste hadn’t wanted to go, but Damien had insisted."Visibility matters babe," he said, smoothing a stray lock of her hair as she leaned against his chest that morning. "Let them see your face while they whisper about Arden behind your back."So she plucked up her old 'ductch courage' as they say and went. She let Quinn fuss with her hair, let Marisol approve the vintage gown, deep emerald silk, nothing borrowed, nothing repeated. Celeste had learned that trick years ago: never wear the same thing twice in the same circle. Too easy a target.They arrived late on purpose, not too late to insult the host, but late enough to make the cameras starve for her. Damien stepped out first, immaculately tailored in charcoal and black. He held out his hand firm and determined. Celeste took it