Chapter 14 - Celeste’s Final Bargain
Adrian did not tell the police where Celeste wanted to meet.
He knew they would stop him from going alone.
The address led to the ballroom where the nightmare had begun.
The gala decorations were still in place.
Broken glasses remained beneath the tables.
The red carpet was stained from the struggle.
Adrian entered through the same doors Mia had walked through.
Celeste stood beneath the chandeliers.
She wore a hospital gown beneath a stolen coat.
One side of her body was bandaged.
Noah slept inside a portable crib beside her.
Evelyn was tied to a chair near the stage.
Mia was not there.
Adrian had left her with Detective Brooks.
“Let them go.”
Celeste smiled.
“You brought the evidence?”
“What evidence?”
“The files from Robert’s grave.”
“They burned.”
Celeste’s expression changed.
“You’re lying.”
“Your bomb destroyed them.”
“It wasn’t my bomb.”
Adrian stopped.
“Then whose was it?”
Celeste laughed weakly.
“You still think you understand your family.”
She pulled a small device from her pocket.
“The chandelier supports are wired.”
“If police enter, the entire ceiling comes down.”
Adrian looked above Evelyn and Noah.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Because everyone has taken something from me.”
“My father used me.”
“Your father manipulated me.”
“Hale betrayed me.”
“Nathan tried to erase me.”
“And you looked at Evelyn as if I never existed.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“You abandoned a baby.”
Celeste’s face twisted.
“I took him because I wanted you to feel what I felt.”
“I wanted you to lose something you loved.”
“He was six weeks old.”
“He was proof that I had never been enough.”
Evelyn struggled against the ropes.
“No child caused your pain.”
Celeste turned toward her.
“You should have stayed away.”
“You kidnapped me.”
“You entered my marriage.”
“Adrian told me it was over.”
Celeste slapped her.
Adrian moved forward.
Celeste raised the trigger.
“One more step.”
Adrian stopped.
Celeste looked toward Noah.
“I thought Victor would kill him.”
“But the street girl saved him.”
“She ruined everything.”
Adrian kept his voice calm.
“Mia is Julian’s daughter.”
Celeste laughed.
“I knew.”
Adrian stared at her.
“You knew all along?”
“Isabella came to me after Julian died.”
“She begged me to protect Mia.”
“I promised I would.”
“What did you do?”
“I gave Mia to Victor.”
Evelyn closed her eyes in horror.
Celeste continued.
“Victor was supposed to take her out of the country.”
“Instead, he kept the money and used her mother as leverage.”
“Years later, Isabella tried to escape.”
“Victor killed her.”
Adrian’s hands trembled.
“You handed a child to a murderer.”
“I was protecting the company.”
“No.”
“You were protecting yourself.”
Celeste’s eyes filled with tears.
“I had nothing except that name.”
Adrian looked around the empty ballroom.
“This name destroyed everyone who carried it.”
He reached into his coat.
Celeste raised the trigger.
“Slowly.”
Adrian removed a document.
“I signed away my controlling interest in Vale Development.”
Celeste stared at him.
“The company will be sold.”
“The money will compensate every surviving victim.”
“You can’t do that.”
“I already did.”
Celeste’s face collapsed.
Everything she had killed to protect was gone.
She lowered the trigger.
For one second, Adrian believed it was over.
Then a gunshot exploded from the balcony.
Celeste jerked backward.
Blood spread across her chest.
The trigger fell from her hand.
A man stepped out from behind the upper curtains.
Dr. Hale.
He had escaped during transport.
He aimed at Adrian.
“You should have let the past stay buried.”
Adrian dove behind a table.
Hale fired again.
The bullet struck the chandelier support.
Metal cables snapped.
The enormous chandelier began falling toward Evelyn and Noah.
Adrian ran.
He reached the crib first.
He pushed Noah beneath the stage.
Then he threw himself over Evelyn.
The chandelier crashed.
Glass and metal exploded across the ballroom.
Smoke filled the room.
Adrian lifted his head.
Celeste was gone.
Hale was gone.
And the portable crib was empty.
Noah had disappeared beneath the collapsed stage.
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Then a baby began crying somewhere below the ballroom floor.
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