All Chapters of THE CEO ALREADY KNEW : Chapter 191 - Chapter 200

227 Chapters

Chapter 191: The Memoir

The idea came to Celeste in the middle of the night.Not a revelation — more a recognition. Something she'd been circling for years, finally landing. She sat up in bed, the moonlight silver on her face, and I woke to the absence of her warmth beside me."What is it?" I asked."I want to write it down. Everything. Not the letters — the story. Our story. The one we've been living.""You've never wanted to write before.""I've never been ready."---She started the next morning.Not on a computer — by hand, in the leather-bound journal I'd given her years ago, the one she'd used for ideas and sketches and the occasional pressed flower. Her handwriting was smaller now, shakier, but still legible.The CEO Already Knew, she wrote at the top of the first page."That's my title," I said."It's our story.""You can't steal my title.""I'm not stealing. I'm continuing."---She wrote for hours.Not every day — she didn't have the stamina for that. But when she wrote, she wrote deeply, losing he

Chapter 192: The Last Garden

The winter of Celeste's eighty-third year was the gentlest I could remember.Not warm — the north of Portugal is never warm in January. But soft. The rain came in whispers instead of storms. The wind held its breath. Even the ocean seemed quieter, as if it knew something we didn't.Celeste spent most of her days in the chair by the window.Not the porch — she couldn't manage the cold anymore. The chair in the living room, angled toward the garden, toward the fig tree, toward the stones that marked the dogs and Hana and now, she said, the space where she would one day rest."You're morbid," I said."I'm practical.""That's the same thing."---She stopped writing letters in February.Not because she didn't want to — because her hands wouldn't let her. The arthritis had progressed, her fingers curled and stubborn, unable to hold a pen for more than a few minutes."I feel useless," she said."You're present.""That's not the same.""It's the only thing that matters."---Sofia came for a

Chapter 193: The Geometry of Grief

The first morning without Celeste, I made coffee for two.Not because I forgot — because I couldn't stop the ritual. The two cups, side by side on the counter. The careful pour, the splash of milk, the single drop of honey she'd always added when she thought no one was watching.I stood there, holding her cup, the ceramic warm against my palms.Then I poured it down the sink.Sofia found me an hour later, sitting at the kitchen table, the empty cups still side by side."Mom," she said — she'd been calling me that for years, ever since Iris was born, and it still made my heart catch. "You need to eat.""I need to breathe.""That's the same thing."---The first week was a blur of small tasks.Phone calls. Paperwork. Decisions I didn't want to make. Celeste had planned for this — of course she had — leaving folders labeled with my name, instructions for everything from the garden to the memoir royalties to the stone under the fig tree."You knew," I said to her photograph, the one on th

Chapter 194: The Shape of Love Continued

The first year without Celeste passed like a long, slow exhale.Not because time moved differently — it didn't. The days were still twenty-four hours, the seasons still turned, the garden still needed tending. But something in me had shifted. The urgency was gone. The need to prove, to accomplish, to hold on. There was only the quiet work of continuing.I woke each morning to the same empty space beside me.I made coffee for one.I sat on the porch, watching the ocean, and talked to her the way I'd learned to talk to the dead — not expecting answers, just needing to speak."The roses are blooming," I said. "The ones you planted by the fig tree. They're pink this year. Last year they were almost red."The ocean didn't answer.But I felt her anyway.---Sofia visited in March.She came alone — Clara was with the children, and Sofia needed a break. She'd been working too hard, she said, seeing too many patients, carrying too much of their pain."You're burning out," I said."I'm helping.

Chapter 195: The Practice of Presence

The second year without Celeste was different.Not easier — different. The sharp edges of grief had softened, worn smooth by time and tears and the stubborn act of continuing. I no longer reached for her in the middle of the night. I no longer set two cups on the counter. But I still talked to her. I still sat in her chair. I still visited the fig tree every morning, touching the stone where her name was carved.Celeste Laurent-Vega. She stayed."She stayed," I said to the garden. "I'm still learning how."---Sofia came for her birthday in February.She was forty-five now — an age I remembered as the beginning of wisdom, though I hadn't known it at the time. She looked like Celeste around the eyes, around the mouth. The same way of holding her head when she was thinking."You're staring," she said."I'm recognizing.""You're seeing Mom.""Same thing."---We walked on the beach.The wind was cold, the waves high. Sofia held my arm, the way she'd held Celeste's at the end."I've been

Chapter 196: The Keeper of the Stories

The third year without Celeste, I stopped counting the days.Not because I forgot — because I no longer needed to measure. Time had become something else. A river instead of a clock. Flowing, yes, but also pooling in certain places. The garden at dawn. The fig tree at dusk. The sound of the ocean when the wind was right.I woke each morning to the same empty space beside me.I made coffee for one.I sat on the porch, watching the light change, and I listened.---Sofia called on a Tuesday."We're coming for the summer," she said. "All of us. Clara. The kids. We need the ocean.""You need a break.""We need you.""That's the same thing."---They arrived in June.Iris was twelve now — tall, awkward, full of the particular energy of early adolescence. Hana was five, still small, still attached to his stuffed rabbit. Baby Celeste was one, crawling everywhere, putting everything in her mouth.The house was filled with chaos.Toys on the floor. Crumbs on the counter. The smell of sunscreen

Chapter 197: The Inheritance of Light

The fourth year without Celeste, I began to forget the sound of her voice.Not entirely — fragments remained. The way she said my name when she was worried. The laugh she couldn't suppress when Iris did something absurd. The soft hum she made while painting, the one she never knew she was making.But the full melody was fading.I tried to hold onto it. Listened to old recordings — interviews, documentaries, a voicemail she'd left years ago, telling me she'd be late for dinner. The recordings helped, but they weren't the same. They were echoes. The voice itself had moved somewhere I couldn't follow."You're sad," Sofia said during a visit."I'm remembering.""That's the same thing."---Iris was fourteen now.She'd grown tall, almost as tall as me, with Celeste's eyes and my stubbornness. She visited every weekend, sometimes with her parents, sometimes alone. We walked on the beach. We gardened. We talked about everything and nothing."Vovó Daphne," she said one afternoon, "do you thin

Chapter 198: The Memoir's End

The words came faster in the winter.Not because I had more time — because the story had been waiting. Forty years of it. The cons, the wire, the moment I saw Celeste across the gala and knew my life would never be the same. The years of running. The years of staying. The slow, stubborn work of learning to love and be loved.I wrote in the mornings, before the house woke up.I wrote in the afternoons, while the garden slept.I wrote at night, by the fire, Celeste's blanket around my shoulders, her photograph watching from the mantel."You're obsessed," Sofia said during a visit."I'm releasing.""That's the same thing."---The manuscript grew.Page by page, chapter by chapter. I didn't plan it — I just wrote. The early years in Barcelona with Emilia. The job from Adrian. The first time I saw Celeste, surrounded by light and shadows and the weight of her own loneliness.She sent me a drink, I wrote. No note. Just eye contact across a gilded room and a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

Chapter 199: The Final Chapters

The winter of my ninetieth year, I stopped worrying about the future.Not because I had given up — because I had finally understood that the future was not mine to control. Celeste had taught me that, in the end. The only thing we could control was how we showed up. How we loved. How we stayed.The book continued to sell. Slowly, steadily, finding its way into the hands of people who needed it. I still answered every letter, though my hands were slower now, my handwriting shakier.Your story saved me, a woman wrote from Australia. I was going to leave my wife. I was going to run. Your book made me stay.I wrote back: Staying is hard. But it's worth it.---Sofia visited in February.She was fifty now — an age I remembered as the beginning of wisdom, though I hadn't known it at the time. Her hair was gray, her face lined, her eyes still the same — Celeste's eyes, watching, witnessing."Mom," she said — she still called me that, even though I was not her birth mother, even though Celest

Chapter 200: The Beginning

She died on a Tuesday.The ocean was calm. The garden was quiet. The fig tree cast its shadow over the stones, and the roses Celeste had planted decades ago were still blooming, stubborn and bright.Sofia was holding her hand.I was holding the other.Not me — Iris. I am Iris now. The narrator has changed, because the story has passed from one pair of hands to another, the way stories do. Vovó Daphne died with her eyes closed, a small smile on her face, her breathing slowing until it stopped."She's gone," Tia Sofia said."She's everywhere," I replied."Same thing."---We buried her in the garden.Beside Vovó Celeste, under the fig tree. The stone was already carved — Daphne Laurent-Vega, 2018–2108. She stayed. Tia Sofia had ordered it months ago, when it became clear that the end was near."She planned this," I said."She planned everything.""That's not true.""It's the only truth that matters."---The funeral was small.Just family. Tia Sofia, Tia Clara. My brother Hana, my siste

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