Chapter 7 - CELESTE’S GAMECeleste was gone by the time Dominic returned.
Her clothing remained.
Jewelry remained.
Passport remained.
But the woman herself had vanished.
Dominic found Graham standing in the library.
“Sit.”
Graham obeyed.
Marcus placed the cassette on the table.
Dominic’s eyes settled on it.
“You had this.”
“Yes.”
“You lied.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Graham looked exhausted.
“Because I didn’t know whether Celeste had turned you too.”
Dominic almost struck him.
Instead, he played the recording.
His father’s voice.
Then Celeste’s.
Clear.
Undeniable.
Dominic listened until the end.
Salvatore accused Celeste of feeding false evidence to Vincent.
Celeste replied that the family needed stronger leadership.
Then she said something horrifying.
“Julian is useful because Dominic loves him. Break that bond and Dominic becomes predictable.”
Dominic stopped the tape.
For seven years he had lived exactly as she intended.
Alone.
Suspicious.
Predictable.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Graham’s answer came quietly.
“Because I helped build the system she used.”
He explained.
Twenty-four years earlier, he had designed Salvatore’s surveillance network.
At first, it targeted corrupt associates.
Later it expanded.
Employees.
Family.
Politicians.
Competitors.
Everyone.
Celeste joined as a financial analyst.
She was brilliant.
Patient.
Invisible.
Then she married Vincent.
“She didn’t marry him for love?” Dominic asked.
“I don’t know if Celeste loves anyone.”
Graham explained how she slowly took over.
She fed Vincent evidence that Isabella planned to expose the family.
Vincent arranged Isabella’s staged death.
But Isabella survived the crash and escaped.
“Did Vincent know?”
“Not initially.”
“And Julian?”
“Julian discovered part of the system.”
Dominic’s face tightened.
Graham continued.
“He wanted to tell you.”
“Why didn’t he?”
“He did.”
Dominic stared.
“When?”
“The night before the evidence against him appeared.”
Dominic remembered.
Julian had come to his apartment drunk and furious.
Said the family was rotten.
Said someone had files on all of them.
Dominic had dismissed it as paranoia.
“I didn’t listen.”
“No.”
The word hurt.
Graham did not soften it.
Dominic needed truth now, not kindness.
“Celeste created the accounts. Richard created the legal trail. Vincent delivered information to the rival organization.”
“And you?”
“I did nothing.”
Dominic looked at him.
Graham’s eyes filled with shame.
“That was my crime. I knew enough to suspect Julian was innocent, and I stayed silent.”
“Why?”
“Celeste had records proving I built the surveillance program. Your father had used it to destroy people. If authorities discovered it…”
“You protected yourself.”
“Yes.”
Dominic turned away.
Another coward.
Another person who let Julian die.
But killing Graham would not undo anything.
“Where is my mother?”
“I don’t know.”
“Celeste does.”
“Yes.”
“Then find her.”
Graham gave Dominic access to the old system.
For hours they followed dormant cameras, coded accounts, and safe properties.
At 6:40 p.m., Marcus found a recurring payment to a private nursing residence in Pennsylvania.
No patient name.
Only code:
I-17.
Isabella.
They left immediately.
Meanwhile, Celeste sat in a room two hundred miles away watching their vehicles through a stolen security feed.
Vincent stood behind her.
“You said Dominic would stop after Richard died.”
“Richard’s death made him more curious.”
Vincent paced.
“We should leave the country.”
Celeste smiled.
“You’re free to.”
“You have my passport.”
“Do I?”
Vincent stared.
For the first time, he seemed to understand something.
He had believed himself her partner.
He was not.
He had always been another file.
Another subject.
“What are you planning?”
Celeste looked at the monitor showing Dominic’s convoy.
“To give him what he wants.”
“Isabella?”
“Yes.”
Vincent went pale.
“She can identify me.”
“She already did.”
“What?”
“The Vermont letter.”
Vincent stared at her.
“You knew?”
“Of course.”
“You let Dominic find it.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Celeste smiled.
“Because Dominic is finally removing every loose end for me.”
Vincent stepped backward.
Richard was dead.
The old network exposed.
Graham compromised.
Now Celeste had maneuvered Dominic into confronting Vincent.
“You’re setting me up.”
“I set you up twenty-one years ago.”
Vincent lunged.
Celeste drew a pistol.
One shot.
Vincent fell.
She crouched beside him.
He gasped.
“I loved you.”
“No.”
Celeste touched his cheek almost tenderly.
“You loved feeling important.”
She stood.
Vincent whispered.
“Dominic will kill you.”
Celeste looked toward the screen.
“That depends on what he values more.”
“What?”
“Revenge…”
She smiled.
“…or his mother.”
At 10:12 p.m., Dominic reached the Pennsylvania residence.
The administrator denied knowing Isabella.
Marcus showed the photograph.
Nothing.
Dominic saw fear.
“Where is she?”
“I don’t—”
Dominic slammed the patient ledger onto the desk.
“I-17.”
The woman’s face collapsed.
“Room 304.”
Dominic ran.
Third floor.
Room 304.
Locked.
He broke it.
Empty bed.
Still warm.
On the pillow lay a phone.
It rang.
Dominic answered.
Celeste.
“Hello, Dominic.”
His voice became ice.
“Where is my mother?”
“She’s listening.”
Dominic’s breath stopped.
Then another voice came through.
Older.
Weak.
But familiar.
“Dominic?”
He closed his eyes.
Twenty-one years disappeared.
“Mom?”
Isabella began crying.
“My boy.”
Dominic gripped the phone so hard his knuckles whitened.
“Where are you?”
Celeste returned.
“Come alone.”
“Celeste—”
“If Marcus follows you, Isabella dies.”
Dominic looked at Marcus.
The security chief shook his head.
Celeste continued.
“You have ninety minutes.”
“Where?”
“The place where Julian died.”
Dominic’s entire body stiffened.
An abandoned riverside hotel in Jersey City.
The building where his brother’s body had been found.
May you like
Celeste whispered:
“It’s time you finally learned what happened that night.”
