SIXTY - ONE

SIXTY - ONE
CELESTIA

I woke up, stretched, and shifted slightly to preserve my delicate backside from too much friction. More than twenty-four hours had passed by, but the rawness from Raffaele’s stripes and the echo of his cock between my legs were among the best reminders. In all probability, he did not know that today was my birthday.
Since contacting him was not a big deal because of Alec, I waited out the night. But the door to my room swung open as my mother walked in. She was already dressed, a little too casual for herself, and early morning.
“You are up.”
She came to stand near the edge of my bed as I swiped away the covers. “You are dressed,” I stated confusedly. “Are you leaving now?”
Kyla smiled. “I have taken the day off for the most important day, Celestia. It’s your twenty-first birthday. Get dressed and meet me outside. I have a surprise planned for you already.”
I barely nodded. She dropped the news and disappeared as quickly as she came. By the time I got dressed and went downstairs, she was waiting by a black SUV and only a driver in front.
“I don’t see Alec anywhere,” I queried.
Kyla got off the phone and opened the door. “He doesn’t need to be around when I am here. Get in.”
It was either the odd feeling I was having, or the breakfast did not agree with me. My gut twisted the entire car ride, and it only got weirder when Kyla swapped the car. When I demanded to know the reason, but she supplied a vague answer that would not even satisfy a five-year-old. Silently, I let it go and concentrated on the car ride. With every mile we crossed, the roads seemed to lead us out of the central city.
Almost a two-hour drive later, the sedan we had swapped, pulled up near a house situated in the middle of nowhere.
“We have reached. Come.”
I was too jaded and hungry to question Kyla, partly because her answers were inexplicit. A suited man, with salt and pepper hair and in his fifties, approached her. “Welcome, Mrs. Donovan.”
“Is everything ready?” she asked in a clipped tone and flipped mood.
“As ready as you expected us to be.”
In the entire conversation, I was nonexistent though I followed them into the house. It was one of the decent apartments downtown and looked like no one lived here for a long time.
We crossed the hall and entered a room consisting of a desk, a few chairs, and three armed men in the corners.
Instinct sensed long before my mind registered. Something was wrong.
I needed Raffaele.
I needed to contact him.
“Celestia,” Kyla’s voice snapped me out. “Meet Mr. Fox. He is a lawyer, and right now, he needs your signature on a document. Once the formality is out of the way, we can begin the celebration properly.” She clapped her hands and gestured to the man who swiftly slid a bunch of papers and a pen.
Raffaele, where are you?
“What papers?” I almost stuttered. “I need to read them first.”
“You don’t trust your mother now, do you?”
“Then tell me, what am I signing?”
Kyla gazed around the room as her expression changed slowly. The smiling face gave away to frown and settled into a cold demeanour. “Hmm. I have already anticipated something like this, you know. Lucky for you, I have come prepared.” Her words made no sense until she turned to those armed men, ordering, “Restrain her.”

RAFFAELE

Amadeo paced around the room like he used to do as a child. His mouth was compressed into a thin line, raking an occasional hand through his styled hair.
He paused mid-stride and neared, where I sat. “Are you absolutely sure she has information for us?”
“I am positive.” I shut the laptop and looked up. “Apparently she is the only living relative of Maya Walker that connects her to Bruno Donovan, Celestia’s father.”
“Okay.” With that, he went back to his nervous pace.
Even after hiring the best private detective in the country, it took me more than thirty-six hours to track down Eden Walker, Maya’s sister from New Orleans. Within hours, I had to convince her to come to Vegas and arranged a private jet for her arrival. Thanks to Cesar, who moved mountains to make it possible on my account. On some level, even he regarded Celestia as a part of my family.
A knock resonated, interrupting the building tension in the room as Amadeo ran to the door and wrenched it open. Cesar entered with a woman on his heel. Brunette, late-forties and a wealth of similarities with her sister, Maya.
“Please, come in.” Rounding the table, I extended a hand. “Raffaele Roselli, and this is my brother, Amadeo.”
“Eden Walker,” she introduced herself.
“Please take a seat,” I invited once the formalities were out of the way.
She sank into the chair with an effusive thanks as I jumped into the discussion. “Miss Walker, I appreciate you coming down on such short notice.”
Eden looked between my brother and I. “You said you needed information about my sister. After all these years…why?”
“We have reason to believe that your niece is in Vegas, and that—”
“Stop, please, stop,” she cut me off almost tearfully. “My niece never saw the light of the world. Maya died while giving birth to her child. Or I should say that she was killed.”
“Why would you say that?” Amadeo asked, voicing my concern.
“Maya fell in love with Bruno when they were in university together. She initially told me that it was just a passing affair until she came home and announced her pregnancy.”
“They were not married by then?”
“No. It was complicated. Bruno was promised marriage to someone named Kyla because her family financed his entire education. He was a brilliant student and a promising businessman, even as a youngster. What he lacked was money for a business school, given he was a foster kid. So, Kyla’s father paid in full, with a clause that once he sets up his life, he would marry his daughter.”
Amadeo and I exchanged a look as I deduced. “Except your sister, Maya, came into the picture.”
She narrated how Bruno Donovan had a fine acumen for finance and business, making it to the top lists of Forbes, Times, and other Wall Street journals as a successful entrepreneur. And all this while, he dated Maya Walker (not Kyla).
Eden took a sip of the water and continued. “The day she announced her pregnancy, we were incredibly surprised and happy. Bruno and Maya wanted to wait out the wedding until she gave birth to their daughter. But Kyla turned vicious. That woman did not even love the man, and yet she was hell-bent on enforcing the contract.”
I had to scowl with knowledge. “We are not surprised. Please, continue.”
And she did.
Apparently, Kyla and her family were notorious as well as vicious. They threatened Maya, called her names in public, and even went to the length of physically attacking her while she was pregnant. Needless to say, Bruno was outraged. He took Maya away until Kyla actually found that out and staged an accident.
Eden sniffed in remembrance. “My sister was taken to the hospital, but it was too late. It was too late to save the child as well.”
“I am sorry, Eden. I am sorry for your loss,” Amadeo consoled.
“Was your family in touch with Bruno Donovan after that?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Bruno was heartbroken. In one night, he lost his girlfriend and his unborn child that wrecked him apart.”
Why would the man hide his newborn child and then go ahead and marry someone like Kyla? It did not make sense.
“Did you know he died a few years later?”
“No. But when I did not hear from him anymore, I predicted something like this. Can you please tell me why you are all asking about my sister and Bruno?”
I was still contemplating what to say when Amadeo came to my rescue. “Eden, I know these are painful memories, but we really needed your help. I need you to look at some pictures if you please.”
Although reluctant, she agreed. “Okay.”
Tapping on the iPad screen, Amadeo placed it in her hand. “Do you recognize her?”
The way her nose flared and eyes glasses, I knew she knew. “Kyla.”
He swiped, moving to the next. “And this one.”
She stared at it for a long beat, brows furrowed like she was trying hard to match the genes. “No. But she looks so much like my sister.”
Sighing heavily, I took the iPad from her and placed it down. “We believe this is your niece. Her name is Celestia Donovan.”
At first, she could not believe it and was as clueless as us. Even though we found out about Celestia’s mother, there were many things unknown to us. For now, it was enough.
Once I bring in Celestia and inform her of the original linage, we would cross the other bridge as it comes.
The door suddenly opened, in rushed Alec. My eyes frantically went behind him, looking for Celestia except there wasn’t any.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“Sir, we have a problem. Kyla told me to wait out in the apartment and took Celestia for a ride. Everything was smooth until she swapped her car and ditched her phone, and now I have no way to track her. They are in the wind.”

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