Chapter One: The Restaurant Encounter

Celeste's Pov

The scent of truffle risotto and aged wine filled the air, mingling with the soft clinking of silverware and murmured conversations. "Lumière" was the kind of restaurant where the rich indulged in overpriced delicacies while pretending to care about calorie counts. It was also where I spent my nights weaving between tables, balancing trays heavier than my will to live.

"Order up, Table Fourteen!" The head chef’s voice cut through the kitchen, snapping me out of my daze. I forced a smile, adjusting the stiff black uniform that somehow felt tighter today. Maybe because it had been years since I’d last been served at places like this rather than serving at them.

I grabbed the plates, ignoring the ache in my arms, and stepped into the dimly lit dining area. My feet ached from the double shift, but rent was due, and I didn’t have the luxury of quitting.

This wasn’t the life I had imagined for myself.

At eighteen, I had walked across the graduation stage in designer heels, my future gleaming like the diamond bracelet wrapped around my wrist. Celeste Montgomery, daughter of the Montgomery legacy. Wealthy. Untouchable. Destined for greatness.

Then, in a whirlwind of scandal and betrayal, I had lost it all.

Bankruptcy. Lawsuits. My father’s empire crumbling like a house of cards. Our lavish estate had been auctioned off, my designer wardrobe reduced to thrift-store rejects. The friends who had once clung to my side like designer accessories had disappeared overnight, as if my downfall were contagious.

By the time I was nineteen, I was broke.

By twenty, I had learned what it meant to struggle.

Now, at twenty-eight, I was still drowning.

"Hey, Montgomery! You alive?" One of the other waitresses, Lily, nudged me as she passed. "Table Fourteen’s been waiting."

I took a steadying breath and straightened my shoulders, stepping forward. "Enjoy your meal," I said, carefully setting the plates down.

And then I heard it.

That laugh.

My pulse stuttered. I knew that laugh. Vanessa Harrington.

I didn’t need to look up to confirm. That laughter had once been my own soundtrack to high school gossip sessions, usually aimed at the unfortunate souls beneath our social tier. And Vanessa had always been the conductor of that cruel symphony.

I swallowed hard, willing myself to turn away, but...

"Oh my God." The shrill voice cut through the ambient jazz music. "Celeste? Is that you?"

Damn it.

I pasted on my best customer service smile and turned. "Vanessa. Sienna. Olivia. Wow. What a… surprise."

Sienna Brooks and Olivia Hart exchanged looks, struggling to hold in laughter. Vanessa, ever the ringleader, leaned forward on her manicured hands. "I almost didn’t recognize you in that little uniform! It’s cute. Very… modest for you."

I gripped the tray harder. "Well, you know me. Always a trendsetter. Poverty is very in this season."

Sienna snorted. "Still got that sharp tongue, huh? But, uh, what happened, Celeste? Last time I checked, you were living in an estate, and now…" Her gaze flicked to the restaurant name embroidered on my apron. "You work here?"

I forced a laugh. "Oh, I don’t just work here," I deadpanned. "I run the place. It’s all part of my undercover billionaire mission. You wouldn’t understand—it requires depth."

Olivia bit her lip to hide a giggle, but Vanessa wasn’t amused. She leaned back with a satisfied smirk. "Well, we were just reminiscing about old times. Particularly about Leo Kingsley."

My stomach flipped, but I kept my expression neutral. "Oh?"

"You really fumbled that bag, huh?" Vanessa sighed dramatically. "Imagine.....you were the only girl he ever seriously pursued, and you let him go. Now he’s Leo Kingsley, billionaire mogul. Untouchable. He has the kind of wealth that even your father couldn’t dream of. And yet, you lost him."

My grip on the tray tightened. That wasn’t the whole story. Leo had been different from everyone else in our circle not because he was a scholarship student at our elite high school, but because he never once looked at me the way everyone else did. He was unaffected, unimpressed, and worst of all… uninterested.

That was why they dared me to date him.

I remembered the scene perfectly. Vanessa, Sienna, and Olivia sitting in my bedroom, painting their nails, laughing. "Make Leo Kingsley fall for you," Vanessa had said, "and then break his heart. If anyone can do it, you can."

And I had.

But I hadn’t expected to fall for him, too.

Then, just like that, my life had collapsed, and I had left him behind. Left everything behind.

Now, Vanessa pulled out her phone, her eyes twinkling. "Oh, look at this!" She turned the screen toward me, showing a recent headline: LEO KINGSLEY, AMERICA’S MOST ELIGIBLE BACHELOR, SPOTTED IN PARIS.

"No scandals, no drama. Just wealth, power, and control," Vanessa said, tilting her head. "A man like him wouldn’t even look at someone like you now."

There were a million things I could have done in that moment.

Walk away.

Swallow my pride.

Take the high road.

Instead, my mouth moved before my brain could catch up. "Leo Kingsley still wants me back."

The words hung in the air, ridiculous and irreversible.

Silence. Then...

Vanessa laughed. "Oh, sweetie. That’s cute."

"It’s true," I said, lifting my chin. "He still calls me. Can’t move on. It’s tragic, really."

Sienna raised an eyebrow. "You expect us to believe that Leo Kingsley—billionaire, scandal-free genius of the financial world—is still pining after you?"

I shrugged, feigning nonchalance. "I can’t help it if men get attached."

Vanessa grinned like a cat that had cornered a wounded bird. "Prove it. Call him. Right now."

My stomach dropped. Oh. Crap.

My mind raced. What were the odds that they actually expected me to do it? Maybe I could fake a bad connection. Maybe—

"No need," Olivia suddenly piped up, her phone in hand. "I just sent a clip of this conversation to X. Let’s see if he responds."

My blood turned ice cold.

And just like that, my world turned upside down.