Chapter 88: Is Dad Alive?

Chapter 88: Is Dad Alive?
Celeste Pov

The black sedan dropped me off exactly at the front yard of my apartment, as if the entire kidnapping had been nothing more than an elaborate taxi service. I stood on the sidewalk outside my apartment building, watching the car disappear into traffic, my mind still reeling from everything Richard Kane had revealed.

They knew where I lived. Of course they did. The Kane family probably knew everything about me. my address, my schedule, my favorite coffee shop. The thought should have terrified me, but I was beyond fear now. I was operating on pure adrenaline and fury.

I climbed the stairs to my apartment, fishing my keys from my purse with trembling hands. All I wanted was to sink into a hot bath and try to process what had just happened. Instead, I opened my door to find my apartment transformed.

"Celeste!" Olivia rushed toward me from the living room, her face a mixture of relief and excitement. "Thank God you're home. You won't believe what happened today."

I looked around in confusion. There were wires running along the baseboards, small black devices mounted in corners, and a keypad by the front door that definitely hadn't been there this morning.

"Olivia, what is all this?"

"Security system!" she said, bouncing on her toes with the first genuine enthusiasm I'd seen from her since the Ethan incident. "I called a security expert after... You know, after what happened. I couldn't just sit here feeling helpless anymore."

A burly man emerged from my bedroom, toolbox in hand. "All finished, miss. Motion sensors, door and window alarms, and cameras with night vision. Nobody's getting in here without you knowing about it."

"That's not all," Olivia continued as the security expert let himself out. "He found something when he was installing the bedroom camera. Look."

She held up a tiny device, no bigger than a button. "Hidden camera. Someone's been watching you sleep, Celeste. Watching you change, shower, everything."

My blood ran cold, but not for the reason she expected. I knew about that camera. Had known for weeks. I had discovered it during one of Damien intimate encounters, and I'd been using it to my advantage ever since, feeding carefully selected information to Damien who was watching.

"Oh," I said, trying to sound shocked. "That's... that's horrible."

"Right? But it's gone now. We're safe." Olivia's smile faded as she really looked at me for the first time. "Celeste, you look terrible. Where have you been? You've been gone for hours."

I sank onto the couch, suddenly exhausted. "I met with Richard Kane today."

"Richard Kane? As in Damien's father?"

"He had me Taken, Olivia. Men with guns forced me into a car and took me to his mansion." The words sounded surreal even as I spoke them. "He knows about Dad."

Olivia went very still. "What do you mean?"

"He knew Dad personally. They did business together before the company collapsed. And Olivia..." I took a deep breath. "I think he knows where Dad is now."

My sister's face went through a series of emotions—shock, hope, fear. We never talked about Dad anymore. It was too painful, too complicated. He'd left six months after his company went under, after the drinking started, after he began coming home at all hours reeking of casinos and cheap perfume. One night he just... didn't come home at all.

"He's alive?" Olivia whispered.

"I don't know. But Richard Kane does. He warned me to stay away from his family, said I'd end up like Dad if I didn't back off."

Before Olivia could respond, my phone rang. Mom's ringtone filled the apartment with its cheerful melody that felt completely inappropriate for the moment.

"Hey, Mom," I answered, trying to inject some normalcy into my voice.

"Celeste, sweetheart." Mom's voice was shaky, scared in a way I hadn't heard since the worst days after Dad left. "I need to talk to you about something. You know those gift boxes I've been receiving? The ones I told you about?"

The mysterious packages that had been arriving at Mom's house every few months for the past months now. She'd always assumed they were from a secret admirer, someone who remembered her from her younger days. Flowers, jewelry, expensive chocolates—always beautiful, always anonymous.

"What about them?"

"One came today, but it wasn't gifts this time. It was photographs, Celeste. Pictures of your father with... with another woman. They looked intimate, maybe taken in the last few years. And there was a message: 'Be careful.'"

My blood turned to ice. Someone had been sending my mother gifts for some time now, and now they were sending warnings. Someone who knew where my father was, who had access to information and  photographs of him.

"Mom, are you okay? Are you safe?"

"I don't know. I'm scared, honey. What if"

A sharp knock at my door cut her off. Both Olivia and I froze.

"Celeste!" A familiar voice called through the door, accompanied by more knocking. "I know you're in there! Open up, you're being ridiculous!"

I let out a breath I didn't realize I'd been holding. "It's just Maya. I'll call you back, Mom."

I hung up and opened the door to find my best friend from work standing in the hallway with her hands on her hips, looking like a mother about to scold a wayward child.

"Finally!" Maya swept me into a crushing hug before I could say a word. "Do you have any idea how worried I've been? First, you cause a scene at the office, then you just disappear for hours without answering your phone!"

Over Maya's shoulder, I saw Olivia raise her eyebrows with interest. My sister had always found Maya's dramatic tendencies entertaining.

"Hi, Olivia," Maya called, finally releasing me. "How are you holding up, sweetie?"

"Better now that we have a security system," Olivia replied with a weak smile.

Maya turned back to me, her expression shifting to concern. "Seriously, Celeste, what's going on? I heard about the resignation."

"What resignation?" The words came out sharper than I intended.

Maya blinked. "Your resignation. From Kane Industries. The one you submitted this afternoon after your blowout with Damien."

I felt the blood drain from my face. "I didn't resign."

"But... the whole office is talking about it. They said you stormed into Damien's office, had a screaming match with him, and then submitted your resignation letter before storming out."

"What do you mean she resigned?" Olivia's voice was small, confused.

I slumped against the doorframe, the weight of my own stupidity crashing down on me. In my anger, in my hurt and frustration over Ethan and everything else, I must have said something that could be construed as a resignation. Or maybe someone had simply decided to interpret my outburst that way.

"Maya, what exactly did people say happened?"

"That you accused Damien of covering for his brother, that you said you were done with the whole Kane family and their lies, and that you never wanted to see any of them again." Maya's voice got softer with each word as she realized I genuinely didn't remember saying these things. "Celeste, you really don't remember?"

I shook my head numbly. I remembered being angry, remembered confronting Damien about Ethan, but the details were fuzzy. I'd been so focused on Olivia's safety, so furious about the kidnapping and Richard Kane's threats, that I might have said anything.

"How did Damien react?" I asked, though I wasn't sure I wanted to know.

Maya's expression grew troubled. "That's the thing, Celeste. Nobody's ever seen him like this before. He's been in full devil mode all day, snapping at everyone, canceling meetings, looking like he wants to burn the building down. And for the first time since I've worked there, he looked... not in control. Like something had actually gotten to him."

A hollow feeling settled in my stomach. Damien might be the only person who could help me figure out what had really happened to my father. He had resources, connections, and despite everything, I'd started to believe he genuinely cared about me.

Now I'd burned that bridge in a moment of blind rage.

"I think I made a mistake," I whispered.

My phone buzzed with a text message. I glanced down and felt my heart skip a beat.

Adrian: I'm in front of your building. Meet me outside.

"Speaking of mistakes," I muttered, showing the message to Maya.

"Adrian? Isn't he the guy who's been helping you with your investigation?" Maya frowned. "I thought you liked him."

"I did. Until I realized he's been playing his own game this whole time." I thought about our last conversation, the way he'd pushed me toward confronting Damien, the convenient way he always seemed to have exactly the information I needed to ruin Damien. "He's been using me, Maya. I just don't know for what yet."

But as I looked at my phone, at the message from the man who might have manipulated me into destroying my relationship with Damien, a terrible thought occurred to me.

What if that had been the plan all along?