When Celine lost everything, it altered her focus by clearing away the distracting clutter that her avarice wrought until what remained were her priorities, well-defined and finite—her father, sister, and herself. Clinging to all she had left in the world, Celine had no illusions that she could safeguard her most precious people. Therefore, she needed immediate access to power to protect herself and her family. Her mom used to say the best way to take down a colossal power was to undermine it from within, meaning infiltrate and ingratiate, gather trust and power, and then turn on those who bestowed it. The fastest way to do this was to marry a billionaire.Celine was a phoenix rising from the ashes of her scorched barn, reborn and remade into a vessel of justice. Her first step in her quest for vengeance, catch herself a billionaire, which was why she sat on Sebastian’s desk, swinging her lovely bare leg. Trying to remember everything Kim had taught her about flirting.Down with the
Sebastian placed the contract face up on the coffee table between them. “This is what you came up with? Do you think you are living in a K-drama?” Sebastian snorted.Celine looked at her manicured hand and said, “It’s perfect, and you know it.”Sebastian sat back and relaxed on the couch. “How is marrying you going to solve my problems?” Sebastian asked.“If you’re married to me, you can’t marry Grace.” Celine put her hand down and glanced across at Sebastian with a bored expression on her face.“Wow, Ms. Beaumont. Why didn’t I ever think of that oversimplified solution?”“Because you lack imagination. Mr. Gale.”Sebastian barked out a laugh and then said, “Please enlighten me.”“Marry me, then call a board meeting without your mother. Discredit Grace and present me as your wife. My selling points are my perfect conduct, discretion, and loyalty. I believe that is well documented, thanks to Phillip." Celine puffed out a little laugh at the irony."Since the marriage would have already
Silk and sequence hugged her curves in a dazzling silhouette. She knew the dress was beautiful, but now that she was out in public, she wished she had selected something that blended into the crowd. She could feel the unwanted attention of lingering eyes like phantom caresses as she strained the slit in her floor-length dress, gliding around the dancefloor in Sebastian’s arms. Celine prayed she wouldn’t twist an ankle; it wasn’t a lack of agility on her part. She was a decent dancer. The concern was Sebastian. He was distracting her.It started in the backseat of the car on the way to their first event as a couple. He took one look at her and closed the gap between them. “You look amazing, wife.”, Sebastian said.Celine could smell whisky on his breath. She raised an eyebrow and wondered if he would be a problem. “I’m not your wife yet, Mr. Gale.”She reached for her seatbelt and fastened it. “Are you going to sit here?” He was inches from her in the center seat instead of the customa
Pushing open a door, Celine stepped onto an open-air hallway with a jaw-dropping view of the Hudson River to gather herself before returning and resuming her role as Sebastian’s latest date. So much depended on this night, and like a portent of doom, Phillip appeared. He was everywhere in everything that concerned her. What did he want from her? How did he know she would be here? It was like he had spyware on her phone or something. But that was crazy.If she couldn’t handle one Phillip encounter, she should quit now. She closed and opened her fists to release her energy and regain her calm. She needed to find her Zen, and nothing worked better than a serene view, like the reflection of the city on the Hudson. How convenient. She took a deep, cleansing breath and let the river's magic calm her racing heart.A disembodied voice spoke from a dark corner Celine had dismissed, “It’s beautiful, isn’t it.”Celine squeaked and turned around and made out the silhouette of a man, then laughed
The car pulled away from the disastrous evening that was their first public appearance as a couple. Sebastian sat in his seat. A rigid and unmoving rock on the outside, but she wasn’t deceived. She could see the heat in his eyes. Eyes that led deep down to the core of him that was currently building in pressure. All it would take was a little mishandling, and he would erupt.But Celine had a few questions, a few hundred questions. Therefore, she would have to risk asking. She had a feeling this strange man, this cousin, who had never existed until today, could be the wild card that rearranged their carefully laid plans and could change the difficulty from moderate to extreme.Carefully, Celine asked her first question. “I didn’t know you had a cousin.” And left it hanging out there, open-ended. Hoping that it would initiate the story that lay behind their encounter with the strange man who approached her in the outdoor hallway.Sebastian gazed out the tinted window, and they sat in si
Celine could see cocktail waitresses passing out shots around the entire VIP room. Sebastian grabbed two from a nearby waitress and handed Celine one. “What is this?”, she asked.Sebastian sniffed his shot. “Kick in the Balls”, he yelled over the music.“Kick in the Balls?”, Celine asked. “Why is it called that?”Sebastian laughed. “Drink it and you will see.”Kim put her arm around Celine and whispered in her ear. “It means you get to kick Sebastian in the balls after you drink it.”Celine burst out laughing. “You’re an idiot.”Kim pulled her in and gave her a sloppy kiss on the cheek. “But you love me.”, she said.Celine put her arm around Kim’s waist and hugged her back. She did love her. “I don’t know if I can keep up with all this.” Celine lifted her shot glass and looked at it. She was worried she would get wasted too quickly and ruin the night.“Don’t worry, Celine. Nothing’s going to happen. I’m here, and so is Sebastian. I know all these guys. They are good men as long as you
*Trigger alert attempted kidnapping.His strength was terrifying. No matter how she fought, he overwhelmed her with ease. Not that she had a lot of options. She was pinned with no wiggle room, held in the vice that was his arms and chest. Only her legs were free, but he was dragging her, and the pain in her toes was unbearable. It was all she could do to get her feet underneath her.At one point, she felt someone try and yank her out of his grasp, and a struggle ensued. He held her with one arm and used the other to defend himself. Celine saw her chance and took it. Struggling, she took advantage of every weakness she found while he was distracted. But he managed her easily, even with one arm. The realization was terrifying.Suddenly, she felt his muscles bunch up, and then he struck and grappled with someone. Her toes were crushed in the melee, and then it was over. He wrapped both arms around her and continued. Where was he taking her? Somewhere away from prying eyes? No. Not that.M
Tonight’s event was for a charity called No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Its mission focuses on tweens and teenagers who get lost in the welfare system. Finding homes for teenagers is difficult. They are a forgotten group that has a high likelihood of aging out of the system at eighteen without finding a family. Statistics for adult teenagers left alone to manage adulthood are devastating. No Child Left Behind believes America can do better.NCLB planned an immersive event at Central Park’s ice skating rink. It was a matchmaking and a fundraising event in one. Pre-screened families matched with foster children could come and have a fun evening drinking hot cocoa, ice skating, and getting to know one another. Simultaneously, the foundation held a fundraising event where new and old donors could watch the match-making magic and open their pocketbooks for a good cause.This charity excited Celine, and she was in talks with NCLB and one of her equine foundations to match abused horses with f
When Celine and Kim were in high school, they had perfected the art of sending text messages under the table without looking at their hands. Above the table, they acted like nothing was happening. Below the table, there was a flurry of thumbs. Like a swan’s calm and graceful glide above water whilst below the waterline, there was frantic paddling. That was her plan, but first, she had to get that phone, and it was all she could think about as Kim continued Celine’s origin story.“It took me years to put all the pieces together, and by the time I found proof of who you were, you had married Phillip. Phillip was a problem. He was a paranoid, controlling bastard who believed in having the best security and always had you under lock and key. Sophia was furious when she realized who you were and told me to do anything I could to destroy your marriage. She wanted you to suffer. She wanted to kill you. So, I started fucking Phillip and leaving evidence for you to find, but the bastard was me
“My father killed Sophia’s mother and her brothers?”, Celine asked.“Yup.”, Kim said.She mumbled to herself. “My father killed Sebastian’s grandfather and uncles.”It all made sense now why Sophia hated her so much, why she was against the marriage. Oh god. This was so horrible. If Sebastian knew—how could he ever be with her? That is if she ever got out of this alive.“Does Sebastian know?”, Celine asked.“No. He doesn’t know any of this.”, Kim said and seemed certain.Celine’s heart sank into a painful abyss of doubt and uncertainty. If she lived, her future with Sebastian was over. He would never marry her if he knew the truth, and she knew she could never keep the truth from him. On so many levels, her life would never be the same. Funny, how the fear of dying did not seem as frightening with the knowledge that if she did live, she would be doomed to a life without Sebastian in it. She scoffed at the irony of her situation.But could she believe what Kim was saying? She searched
When she heard her voice, Celine burst into tears. She had been rescued. Somehow, against all odds, she had been found. Like a newly born fawn, she stood on wobbly legs and burst into tears. “Kim,” she said, barely able to get her best friend’s name out.When Kim did not open her arms and come to her, she tried to run into her arms, but Kim put her hand out, “Stop.”Confused, she obeyed and did not stop to think much about it. She was filthy, so… She was just so thankful. Waves of emotions overwhelmed her exhausted body, too many for her to contain. So, she stood in place, shaking violently in relief, ready to do whatever Kim told her to.But Kim did nothing to rescue her. She did not smile, offer her the long coat she was wearing to cover her nudity, or even offer her comforting words. Kim’s eyes were hard, her arms were crossed, and she looked at Celine like a cockroach she discovered in her silverware drawer.Dread silenced her tears. Had they captured Kim too? “Kim, are you okay?
It’s strange to have a traumatic event she couldn’t recall. It’s even stranger to have a crippling phobia and not know why. For as long as she could remember, she has been terrified of the dark. It was so bad that her parents took her to a psychologist, where she was diagnosed with PTSD and trauma-related Nyctophobia with panic-induced cognitive impairment. AKA She freaked the fuck out like a cat who got their tail caught in a mouse trap when she was in the dark.According to her parents, this was why. When she was four, they visited a friend’s farm, and she was sent to play outside with Collette. After a while, Collette returned alone, crying hysterically. Alarmed, her parents went looking for her, and when they couldn’t find her, they called the sheriff, and people came from all over to help find her. They searched night and day until a search and rescue dog found her trapped in a crawl space under an old, abandoned shed.When Celine had what her parents called “a fit,” she sometime
When she opened the door to her truck, the interior was covered in a thin layer of dust. The culprit was the passenger window. It was left open a crack over the last year, and while the truck was in storage, it slowly allowed fine dirt to accumulate. She grabbed an old rag and began wiping down the driver’s seat, but the only thing she accomplished was creating a dust storm that erupted in the truck cab, causing a coughing fit. Frustrated with the delay, Celine opened both doors, did a quick clean, and then drove with the windows open until the dust stopped swirling around the cab.After Sebastian fought with his mother, Celine called her dad. He was at the house in the Hamptons with Collette and had taken over supervision of the equestrian center rebuild. Her dad had poopooed her worries about Sophia but allowed John and Jacob to stay in the house with them to placate Celine. Every day, she called and checked in with him, and after a week and a half of hearing that everything was fin
Celine burst into Sebastian’s home office, frustrated and seething. Spinning to face her in his office chair, Sebastian seemed startled by her abrupt entrance and raised an eyebrow.She flung herself dramatically onto his lap, nuzzled into his chest, and said, “I want to elope.”He put his arms around her, and she felt herself calm. She nuzzled, greedily inhaling his scent.“What happened?” he asked.It was his mom. She kept adding people to the guest list, telling Kevin they were essential additions. Every time she did, they had to redo seating arrangements, and now Sophia’s additions were so numerous that they would need to change the venue to accommodate her.When Sophia first expressed an interest in being involved with the planning, Celine decided, against her better judgement, to allow it. To keep the collaboration less hostile, they had Kevin act as a go-between. And at first, that had worked. Kevin had years of experience dealing with the atrocious woman, and she did not bothe
Her mother once told her, “All living things reproduce. What we do afterward separates us. Children do not owe us filial love and fidelity for the gift of life. It is something we earn every day.” But she knew that Sebastian’s parents did not prescribe to that gentle philosophy. They believed the stark opposite because not even love was afforded to Sebastian; still, they demanded his obedience in all things.Celine had never met Sebastian’s father. Not even when they were children; it was as if Brandon Gale was more of a legend or a concept than a man. So, she was surprised to see him at their engagement party. According to Sebastian, “He never attended any of my birthdays or milestones. He didn’t even show up for my college graduation. Brandon only had me to procreate his genetic material.”Until meeting Sebastian’s father, Celine would have said Sebastian was a male version of his mother. Now that she met Brandon, she saw some of his features subtly represented in Sebastian, like hi
Tender feelings filled Celine’s chest as she watched Sebastian dancing with Amara. He gently maneuvered the tender youth around the dance floor carefully and thoughtfully, and Celine wondered where he had learned to be so loving and gentle with children. He certainly hadn’t learned from his parents. Seeing how giant Sebastian seemed compared to Amara made Celine laugh out loud. His massive hands dwarfed hers, and he seemed to swallow up her little body in his enormous arms when he picked her up and swung her around, dangling her several feet off the ground—Amara’s ringing laughter brought smiles to anyone within earshot.A sweaty Amara and Sebastian returned to their seats. Sebastian leaned into Celine and kissed her cheek. Surprised, she looked at him. He was beaming, and his gray eyes reminded Celine of the light in a moonlit landscape. He was happy, and the satisfaction of seeing him so joyful gave her a sense of contentment. Breaking their eye contact, Sebastian scanned the table,
The micro-beaded silk draped down her body like a shimmering column, from the gown’s rose neckline to her perfectly manicured toes. Her sleek black hair was bound in a classic French twist, and her makeup was effortless. She looked elegant in her Oscar de la Renta gown, like she belonged to the world of the ultra-rich.Glancing in the mirror, she saw a woman whose beauty was otherworldly, and for the briefest of seconds, she saw herself as something ethereal and worth looking at. But then she blinked, disbelieving her eyes, and she was simply Celine again, all done up and dressed in a gown that cost beyond her comprehension. An artfully crafted deception, an imposter.She heard Sebastian enter their bedroom. He was impeccably dressed in all wool, velvet, and satiny sin. His grey eyes, like the mists that clung to the peaks of mountains, and his mouth reminded her of sensuous kisses and unbridled pleasure. They gazed at each other, and she knew he was drinking her in. Studying her, me