Chapter 4

Celeste looked up at the enormous mansion before her. It was brilliantly lit, with lights and decor gleaming in gold. Even though she came from a wealthy family and was married to a billionaire, their home wasn’t nearly as grand as this. It was as if the entire family’s fortune had been poured into this mansion.

She couldn’t believe that the man who was just in critical condition earlier lived here. She couldn’t help but wonder why he was dying in that remote place where Darson had left her. She was also curious about the commotion among the battalion of guards she now saw milling about.

“Sorry for the confusion, Miss,” a man said as he approached her, where she stood near the doorway.

“Are you Diego?” she asked, her voice filled with curiosity.

The man nodded, his expression serious, his sharp eyes assessing her as if trying to gauge her entire being. Celeste blinked and looked away, feeling self-conscious. She knew she looked like a mess. Her face was swollen from crying earlier, the hem of her nightdress was torn and stained with blood from the man she helped, and she had lost one of her slippers in the dark, leaving one of her feet dirty.

“S-Sorry…” she quickly apologized, worried that the man might be disgusted by her appearance, especially now that she was standing in their luxurious mansion.

Diego sighed. “Could you explain everything you saw tonight, Miss?” he asked.

“Ah, yes, of course,” Celeste replied, glancing up at Diego’s tall frame.

“In that case,” he gestured with his hand, indicating the direction. “Come inside with me. It’s not suitable to talk out here, and besides, it’s too cold.”

Celeste had no choice but to follow Diego. She just wanted to be taken home, but she was unsure where to go. If she went back to the Allegra mansion, Darson would surely reject her again. But the Costa mansion had long been abandoned, with all the staff gone, and the last she heard, it was being demolished by distant relatives.

So where could she go?

She sighed quietly to herself. She had no other option but to beg Darson to take her back. After all, her belongings and Anna were still there. But if she ran to her so-called "friends" in the upper class, they would surely insult her entire being, creating a scandal that could ruin the Allegra family’s reputation.

“Miss?” Diego’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

Celeste realized they were now inside a dimly lit room that felt more like an interrogation chamber. 

“What?”

She found herself sitting on a black sofa, facing Diego. Between them was a black table with a lit candle.

“I’ll ask you again,” Diego said seriously. “What were you doing in the place where Primo Semion was found?”

“P-Primo?” Her brows furrowed.

“The man you saved, our boss. His name is Primo Semion.”

“Boss?” Celeste swallowed nervously and decided to be honest with the man. “Well, the truth is, my husband and I had a fight, and he left me in that place,” she admitted, her eyes dropping to her fingers as she nervously played with them. “That’s how I ended up there, before I saw the man in critical condition.”

“You and your husband were fighting in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere?” Diego’s brow furrowed, clearly scrutinizing her story. Maybe he thought she was a spy making up tales. “Your husband left you in that specific place, Miss? And how did he know about it?”

Celeste bit her lip. “I-I don’t know… he just left me there. But I guess that’s how marital fights go sometimes.”

Diego narrowed his eyes. Maybe that place was off-limits, not somewhere the public should be. But for someone to end up there, especially during an attempted assassination on Primo Semion, was highly suspicious.

“That’s not a normal marital fight, Miss,” Diego said with a sarcastic grin. “Unless your husband planned to kill you, leaving you in such a place.”

Celeste froze, shocked as she looked at Diego. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, that place is extremely dangerous. It’s actually used for training with various weapons. What if a bomb had gone off earlier? You’d be dead.”

Celeste’s heart raced in fear. So the shots she heard weren’t fireworks… but what?

She went pale. The place was truly terrifying because of the darkness, but she hadn’t expected… that kind of place.

On the other hand, Diego closely watched her reaction. He saw her eyes fill with tears, which seemed to have been swollen and red for a while.

“Anyway, you’re still lucky you weren’t hurt. And we’re lucky you saved our boss’s life. For that, we’re very grateful to you,” he said, changing the subject.

Diego couldn’t be sure if the woman before him was genuinely innocent or a spy pretending to have saved their boss’s life. What if their enemy had a bigger agenda than just trying to kill Semion?

His boss needed to recover quickly and crush their enemies! They had made a mistake by letting Semion live, because as soon as he woke up, they were all dead!

“Thank you for saving his life. If you hadn’t called us right away, he might not have survived, Miss. We owe you a great debt,” Diego said, trying to reassure her.

Celeste quickly waved off his thanks. “Oh, it’s nothing! I just used his phone to call you! Besides, I also need help because I don’t know how I’m going to get back home…”

Diego looked her over from head to toe. He studied her for a long moment before speaking again. “May I ask your name, Miss?”

“Ah, my name is Celeste.”

“Celeste?” He frowned. “Last name?”

She hesitated. She knew she was dealing with powerful people. What if they spread the news that the once-famous Celeste Costa-Allegra was now a miserable wreck?

Celeste’s parents had taught her that the most important thing to them was the reputation and dignity of their names. If she said Allegra, it would surely tarnish their name because of her. But if she said Costa, even though her family had long fallen, they would know she was married to the Allegras.

What if she made up a name?

“Are you having trouble saying your last name, Miss? Is it hard to invent one?” Diego teased sarcastically, perhaps thinking she was a spy.

Celeste flinched and looked away in shame. “S-Sorry… just don’t tell anyone that I’m Celeste Costa-Allegra.”

Diego froze, his eyes widening in surprise. The smirk disappeared from his lips. “You’re a Costa and an Allegra?”

Celeste nodded, embarrassed.

Who in the upper class didn’t know those two families?

Since Diego was the right-hand man of the infamous Primo Semion, he knew all the surnames that his boss encountered, just to recognize who was an enemy or ally. They had once sought connections with the Costas, but since they had fallen, they hadn’t pursued it. The Allegras, on the other hand, were never trusted because they were frequently involved in various crimes. They weren’t good at keeping secrets and had the potential to betray their allies when cornered.

Diego took a deep breath. To think that a member of both the Costa and Allegra families was now sitting miserably in front of him, after saving Semion’s life!

He was a bit flustered, but he quickly regained his composure, analyzing the situation.

“Miss Celeste, why don’t you stay here for the night? We have plenty of vacant rooms, and we can prepare some new clothes for you.”

“Um…” Celeste scratched her head, considering her current situation. She didn’t know where she could go this late at night. “Thank you very much, in that case.”

She gave a small, hesitant smile, gathering the courage to accept the offer.