Chapter 3 - Confronting Celeste Inside The Silent Ancestral Study Library
I walked through the heavy oak doors of the mansion at dawn, my footsteps heavy on the Persian rugs. The house was dead silent, save for the grandfather clock ticking away the seconds in the grand hallway.
Celeste sat by the unlit fireplace in the library, wrapped in a cashmere robe holding a cup of black coffee. She didn't look up when I entered, her posture as rigid and composed as a porcelain doll.
"You should be at the hospital checking on your mother, darling," she said, her voice smooth and unbothered. I stopped ten feet away from her, my hands shoved deep into the pockets of my woolen coat.
"The nurse told me everything about Pier 44, Celeste," I said, my voice dropping into a low, lethal register. The coffee cup stopped halfway to her lips, but her hand didn't even tremble.
"People hallucinate when they hit their heads hard on marble floors, Julian," she replied, finally turning her head to face me. Her eyes were completely devoid of warmth, pools of dark calculation hiding behind a mask of high-society beauty.
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"That woman has kept my mother alive while you planned our wedding and our merger," I stepped closer. "And you thought you could sweep her under the rug like broken glass."
Celeste set her cup down on the marble table with a sharp, crisp click that cut through the silence. "If you touch me, your precious South Side empire will collapse before the stock market opens on Monday."
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