Chapter 4
Celeste backed away until her spine hit the edge of the carved walnut banquet table. The cascading crystal chandeliers illuminated the sheer panic twisting her features. The elegant, calculating woman who had orchestrated the embezzlement was completely undone by the sudden, undeniable proof standing in front of her.
"I didn't steal anything!" Celeste screamed, clutching the silk of her evening gown. "The accounts were a mess before I even got here! He is framing me, Victor! You know he wants your seat at the head of the table!"
Victor did not flinch at her rising volume. His deep, low voice remained terrifyingly measured. "Do you expect me to value the frantic excuses of a trapped rat over the word of my own blood?"
"I am your fiancée!" Celeste shrieked, tears of rage and fear spilling over her fair, rosy cheeks. "My family brings the entire eastern port to this alliance! You cannot treat me like a common criminal! You owe me the benefit of the doubt!"
"Do I owe a thief and a kidnapper the courtesy of my patience?" Victor asked, taking another slow, predatory step toward her. "Did you honestly believe you could lock my brother in a tomb and eventually wear my ring?"
Miles leaned heavily against the walnut sideboard, handing the empty crystal glass back to Eva. The gentle maid took it, her expressive eyes filled with quiet terror as she watched the mafia boss dismantle his fiancée.
"She didn't act alone, Victor," Miles warned, his voice laced with restrained urgency. "She had the guard schedules. She knew exactly when the east wing would be empty. Someone inside your detail is on her payroll."
Victor’s gaze snapped back to Celeste. The implication of a mole inside his own mansion was a profound insult. He reached out, his tattooed hand gripping the edge of the table mere inches from where Celeste stood.
"Who provided you with the patrol routes?" Victor asked, his voice vibrating with a lethal chill. "Which of my men sold his loyalty for your stolen coin?"
"I will never tell you!" Celeste spat, her survival instinct turning into vicious defiance. "If you touch me, my father will burn this mansion to the ground! The Wren family will slaughter you all!"
"Are you under the delusion that your father can save you from me while you are standing in my dining room?" Victor asked. He did not wait for her answer. He turned his head slightly, his gaze finding the heavy oak doors at the end of the hall. "Guards. Will you enter the room?"
Four heavily armed men in dark suits stepped into the warm golden light of the dining hall.
"Will you escort Celeste to the basement holding cells and ensure she has no access to a telephone?" Victor asked, his command absolute.
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"No! Get your hands off me!" Celeste screamed as the guards seized her arms, dragging her away from the table. "You will pay for this, Victor! You are a dead man!"
Victor watched them drag her out of the room, entirely unbothered by her threats. "Will you ensure she is secured tightly?" he asked the lead guard, who nodded sharply before the heavy doors slammed shut.
