Chapter 83 - I’m leaving you.

Chapter 83 - I’m leaving you.


Celeste's POV

The elevator couldn't move fast enough. My hands were shaking so hard I could barely hold the resignation letter I'd typed up at three in the morning. The numbers above the door seemed to crawl by twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five.

"Come on, come on," I muttered, tapping my foot against the marble floor.

Thirty-two. Finally.

The doors slid open and I marched straight past my own desk toward Damien's office, my heels clicking against the polished floor like gunshots. The coffee I'd made for him this morning sat cold and forgotten on my desk—the last cup I'd ever make for him.

I pushed through the heavy oak doors without knocking. Damien was sitting behind his massive desk, phone pressed to his ear, probably making another million-dollar deal.

He looked up, surprised. "I'll call you back," he said into the phone and hung up. "Celeste? What's wrong?"

I slammed the resignation letter on his desk so hard his coffee cup rattled. "What's wrong? What's WRONG?"

He stood up slowly. "You need to calm down."

"Calm down?" I laughed, but it came out all sharp and bitter. "Your psycho brother attacked my sister last night, and you want me to calm down?"

His face went pale. "What are you talking about?"

"Ethan! Your sick, twisted brother cornered my sister in a parking lot and threatened her." The words tumbled out of me like water from a broken dam. "Olivia came home crying last night, Damien. My little sister, crying because your family can't leave her alone."

"That's..." He ran a hand through his hair. "Are you sure? Maybe there was a misunderstanding."

"A misunderstanding?" I stared at him like he'd grown a second head. "He kidnapped her, Damien. Your brother literally kidnapped my sister because he thought she was me. Then, when that didn't work out, he followed her to a coffee shop. He waited for her outside like some kind of stalker. He got in her face and told her to keep her mouth shut about what happened. And then—get this—he tried to pay her off. Offered her money to stay quiet like she's some kind of prostitute."

Damien's face went white. "He what?"

"You heard me. Kidnapping. Bribery. Stalking. The whole psycho package." I threw my hands up. "And you want to call it a misunderstanding?"

Damien sank back into his chair. "Jesus."

"Yeah. Jesus." I crossed my arms. "And you want to know the best part? The absolute cherry on top of this nightmare sundae?"

He looked at me with those dark eyes that used to make my knees weak. Now they just made me angry.

"The pregnancy test was negative."

The words hung in the air between us like smoke. His mouth opened, then closed, then opened again.

"Negative?"

"As in not pregnant. As in you put me through hell for nothing." I picked up the resignation letter and waved it at him. "As in I'm done with all of this. Done with you, done with your company, done with your insane family."

"Celeste, wait—"

"No." I shook my head so hard my hair whipped across my face. "I'm not waiting anymore. I've waited long enough. I waited for you to stand up to your family. I waited for you to choose me over them. I waited for you to grow a backbone."

"That's not fair."

"Fair?" I laughed again, louder this time. "You want to talk about fair? Fair would be your brother leaving my sister alone. Fair would be your family not trying to control every aspect of my life. Fair would be you acting like the man I met in the cruise ship instead of just another Kane who thinks money solves everything."

He stood up again, came around the desk toward me. "You don't mean that."

"Don't I?" I backed away from him. "Because from where I'm standing, it looks like the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

"I'm nothing like Ethan."

"Aren't you? Because last time I checked, you knew about his little stunt at the party. You knew he watched people. You knew he was dangerous. And what did you do about it? Nothing."

"I was trying to handle it quietly—"

"Quietly." I nodded. "Of course. Can't have the Kane family name getting dirty, can we? Better to let innocent people get hurt than risk a scandal."

His jaw tightened. "You know that's not how I think."

"Do I? Because right now, I don't know anything about you, Damien. I thought I did, but apparently I was wrong about a lot of things."

The office felt too small suddenly. Too fancy, too expensive, too much like everything I was trying to escape from. The leather chairs, the crystal paperweights, the view of the city that cost more than most people made in a year.

"Your family has ruined enough lives," I said, my voice getting quieter but somehow more intense. "My life, my sister's life, probably a dozen other people I don't even know about. And I'm not going to stand here and let it happen anymore."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying I quit. I'm saying I'm done being your assistant, your girlfriend, your whatever the hell I was supposed to be. I'm saying that if your sick freak of a brother comes anywhere near my sister again, I'll call the police myself."

"Celeste—"

He took another step toward me. "You're upset. You're not thinking clearly."

"I'm thinking more clearly than I have in months." But even as I said it, I could feel the tears starting. Hot, angry tears that I didn't want him to see. "God, how did I let this happen? How did I let myself get so caught up in your world that I forgot who I was?"

"You didn't forget anything. You're still you."

The tears were coming faster now. "I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand, probably smearing my makeup, but I didn't care anymore.

"Ethan needs to stay away from my sister," I said. "I mean it, Damien. If he goes near Olivia again—"

"He won't." His voice was quiet, different. "I'll make sure of it."

"Right." I didn't believe him. Couldn't believe him anymore. "Well, it doesn't matter anyway. Because I won't be around to see it."

I turned to leave, but he grabbed my arm gently.

"Don't go."

The words were soft, almost a whisper. And despite everything, despite how angry I was, they almost worked.

Almost.

"Let go of me."

"Please. Just... let me fix this."

"You can't fix this, Damien. This isn't a business deal. This isn't something you can negotiate or buy your way out of. This is real life, with real consequences."

"I know that."

"Do you? Because from where I'm standing, it looks like you're still trying to find a way to make everyone happy. Still trying to protect your family while keeping me around. Still trying to have it both ways."

He let go of my arm. 

He was quiet for a long moment. Outside his office windows, the city buzzed with normal people living normal lives. People who didn't have to worry about their boyfriend's psychotic brother or whether they were pregnant with a baby that would tie them to a family of criminals forever.

"I don't know," he said finally.

And that was the most honest thing he'd said all morning.

"Well, when you figure it out, don't call me." I headed for the door again. "I'll be busy trying to remember what my life was like before I met you."

"Celeste."

I stopped but didn't turn around.

"The pregnancy test," he said. "Are you... Are you okay?"

I almost laughed. Almost. Because, of course, that's what he'd ask about. Not whether I was okay with his brother threatening my sister. Not whether I was okay with his family trying to control my life. Whether I was okay with not being pregnant.

"I'm fine," I said. "Better than fine, actually. I'm free."

And with that, I walked out of his office, out of his building, and hopefully out of his life for good.

The elevator ride down felt a lot faster than the ride up.