Semua Bab Ruthless Vows: The Billionaire Revenge: Bab 161 - Bab 170

"I need to tell you something."Damien's voice modified barely above a whisper. They were sitting inside the catacombs, darkness urging in from all sides.Celeste looked at him. His face was ghostly light inside the flashlight beam."What?""The money. That transaction within the ledger." He took a shaky breath. "It's real. I am the most effective person who funded them."Celeste's stomach dropped. Seeing it in the book was one thing. Hearing him admit it out loud? That hurt differently."Why?""They had you." His voice cracked. "Said they'd kill you. And I was seventeen and stupid and so fucking scared.""Tell me everything."Damien rubbed his face hard. "Remember that summer? When you vanished for three weeks?"Celeste nodded slowly. Yeah, she remembered. Her mother said she'd been sick. Quarantined or whatever."You weren't sick," Damien said. "The Sovereign Hand grabbed you. Wanted to force your mother's hand. When she asked them to go to hell, they said they'd slit your throat."

"That tattoo. What does it mean?"Celeste pointed at the woman's wrist. The Sovereign Hand symbol stared back at her.The woman looked down. Then smiled."This?" She traced the mark. "It means I used to be considered one of them. Before I woke up.""How do I recognize you're telling the truth?""You don't." The lady lowered her weapon. "But I am no longer asking you to agree with me. I'm asking you to use me.”Damien stepped forward. "Use you how?""I know their systems. Their codes. Their safe houses. Everything." She pulled out a tablet. "I can get you inside their network. But there's a price.""There's always a price," Celeste said."My price is this. You publicly denounce the Veritas name. You say your mother was a terrorist. You call her a traitor."Celeste felt like she'd been slapped. "What?""The Kaelin family needs legitimacy. We've been branded as collaborators with Sovereign Hand. If you, Celeste Veritas, say your mother was wrong, it gives us cover. It lets us operate in

"I'm going in alone."Celeste checked her gun. They were sitting outside Bishop's location. Some old warehouses down by the docks."Like hell you are," Damien said."He's got Damien. My brother, I mean." She looked at him. "Sorry. That gets confusing.""We'll get him back. Together.""The Bishop said come alone.""The bishop can say whatever he wants. I'm not letting you walk in there without backup."Mara leaned up from the back seat. "He's right. This is obviously a trap.""Everything's a trap these days." Celeste opened her door. "But what else can we do?"She got out. Damien followed. Mara too.They walked up to the warehouse. Big place. Dark. Windows all busted out.The front door was unlocked."That's not good," Mara whispered.They went in. Huge empty space. Everything echoed.In the middle sat a chair. Someone tied to it.Celeste's brother.She started running. Damien caught her arm."Wait. Gotta check for explosives first."Mara pulled out some scanner thing. Swept around."C

"You need to see this."Damien's voice broke through the quiet. He was standing in the library doorway holding this old leather folder covered in dust.Celeste looked up from the fireplace. She'd been watching the flames for hours looking to stop thinking about how cold Damien regarded these days. He wasn't the same man who held her after the whole thing. Something changed in him."What is it?" she asked.He walked over and dropped the folder on the desk among them. "The original pact. The actual one."Her stomach dropped. "I thought we already knew everything about that stupid deal.""We didn't." He opened it real careful. Pages were yellow and falling apart. "There's this clause hidden in all the legal bullshit."Celeste got up and came closer. The handwriting was old fashioned with all these loops. She saw her grandmother's signature at the bottom. Next to it was Damien's grandfather's name."What's it say?" Her voice came out quieter than she wanted.Damien pointed to this paragra

"We need a DNA test. Now."Damien's voice became tight. Celeste should pay attention to the concern beneath even though he turned into trying to cover it.They have been lower back in his office. That photograph is of their mother and father just sitting there on the desk. Neither of them desired to have a look at it."What if it is real?” Celeste whispered. "What if we're—""We're not." He cut her off. "We can't be.""You don't know that.""I know what I feel." He grabbed her hand. "This doesn't change anything."She pulled away. "It changes everything. If we're related, then everything we did—""Stop." His eyes went hard. "Someone sent that photo to screw with our heads. Make us doubt ourselves. Don't let them win."Celeste wanted to believe him. She really did. But the doubt was already there, spreading.Her telephone rang. Marcus."Switch on the news," he stated before she ought to even talk. "Now."Damien grabbed the remote. Each channel had the identical issue. Their faces. An e