Chapter 3 - The Woman Who Knew Too Much
For three seconds, nobody spoke.
My driver stood beside the hospital door.
The expression on his face told me everything.
He was not afraid of me.
He was afraid of what the truth meant.
“Say it again.”
He looked at me carefully.
“Celeste accessed the estate security system.”
“Why?”
“That is what we are trying to find out.”
No.
That was not the answer.
In my world, people did not break into systems by accident.
They did not search private files without a reason.
And they certainly did not do it on the same night the woman my fiancée attacked revealed a secret about my dead brother.
I looked back at Delia.
She was watching me.
Not with fear.
With disappointment.
Like she had expected this moment.
“You knew.”
Her eyes lowered.
“I suspected.”
“You suspected Celeste was looking for something?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
Delia stayed silent.
I stepped closer.
“Delia.”
She looked at me.
“The truth about Ewan.”
The words landed heavier than any weapon ever had.
Six years.
Six years of believing my brother died because of someone else’s mistake.
Six years of carrying anger without a target.
Six years of telling myself that someday I would find the person responsible.
And now the answer was sitting inside my house.
With the woman wearing my engagement ring.
I walked toward the window.
The snow outside blurred the city lights.
“Tell me everything.”
Delia shook her head.
“Not yet.”
My jaw tightened.
“You understand that patience is not something I am known for.”
“Yes.”
“You understand that if Celeste is involved—”
“I know what you will do.”
Her voice was calm.
“You will destroy her.”
I looked back at her.
“And what is wrong with that?”
“Because you still don’t know why she did it.”
I stared at her.
“Are you defending her?”
“No.”
“Then what are you doing?”
“Trying to stop you from making the same mistake Ewan made.”
That sentence stopped me.
“What mistake?”
Delia looked at the floor.
“He trusted love more than evidence.”
The room became silent again.
Because that sounded impossible.
Ewan?
My brother?
The man who questioned everyone?
The man who saw betrayal before it happened?
“He loved someone?”
Delia nodded.
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Her lips parted.
But before she could answer, the hospital lights flickered.
My driver immediately moved toward the door.
That was when I knew something was wrong.
Hospitals did not scare me.
Enemies did not scare me.
But silence?
Silence meant someone was moving.
Someone who did not want to be seen.
My phone rang.
The number was unknown.
I answered.
Nobody spoke.
Only breathing.
Then a voice.
A woman’s voice.
“Gabriel.”
My blood went cold.
Because I recognized it.
Celeste.
“Where are you?”
She laughed softly.
Not nervous.
Not afraid.
Almost amused.
“I should ask you the same question.”
I looked at Delia.
“She woke up.”
A pause.
Then:
“Who?”
I said nothing.
Celeste continued.
“Gabriel, you need to come home.”
“Why?”
“Because your mother is awake.”
The room froze.
My mother.
The woman who had not spoken in four years.
The woman doctors said might never recover.
“She said Ewan’s name.”
My grip tightened around the phone.
“What did you say?”
“She woke up.”
Celeste’s voice became softer.
“And she asked for you.”
I ended the call.
My driver looked at me.
“Boss?”
“We go back.”
Delia suddenly grabbed my sleeve.
Pain crossed her face.
“Don’t.”
I looked down at her hand.
A nurse’s hand.
A woman who spent two years caring for my mother.
A woman who had been invisible inside my own home.
“Why?”
Her eyes filled with fear.
“Because Celeste knows your mother can speak.”
I stared at her.
“And?”
“She spent four years making sure she couldn’t.”
The words felt like a bullet.
I slowly turned.
“What did you just say?”
Delia released my sleeve.
“She knows what your mother saw the night Ewan died.”
I felt something inside me break.
Because suddenly everything connected.
The attack.
The security breach.
The hidden daughter.
The dead brother.
The woman I planned to marry.
None of it was separate.
It was one story.
A story someone had spent six years hiding.
My driver stepped closer.
“Boss.”
I looked at him.
“Call everyone.”
“How many?”
I looked toward the hospital door.
“Everyone.”
He nodded.
Then left.
Delia watched me.
“You believe me now.”
I did not answer.
Because belief was not the right word.
Something else had replaced it.
Certainty.
I had spent my entire life knowing how to recognize enemies.
But I had never considered the possibility that my greatest enemy would sleep beside me.
Wear my ring.
Smile at my family.
And call herself my future wife.
---
When I returned to the estate, the first thing I noticed was the silence.
Too much silence.
My house was never quiet.
Not really.
There were guards.
Staff.
Security systems.
Movement everywhere.
But tonight?
Nothing.
I entered the main hallway.
Celeste was waiting.
Still wearing the same evening gown.
Still perfect.
Still beautiful.
Still pretending.
She smiled.
“Gabriel.”
I looked at her.
Not the woman I loved.
Not the woman I planned to marry.
The woman standing in front of me.
The stranger.
“You accessed my security system.”
Her smile faded slightly.
“I was worried.”
“About what?”
“Your mother.”
I walked closer.
“You have never accessed my system before.”
“I was scared.”
“No.”
I stopped directly in front of her.
“You were searching.”
Her expression changed.
Only for a second.
But I saw it.
Fear.
Real fear.
“What were you looking for?”
Celeste said nothing.
And that silence told me more than an answer could.
I lowered my voice.
“Where is the file?”
Her face went pale.
A mistake.
A tiny mistake.
But enough.
Because now I knew.
There was a file.
And Celeste knew exactly what I meant.
“What file, Gabriel?”
I smiled.
Not because I was happy.
Because I finally understood.
The woman in front of me had spent years thinking she knew me.
She thought she knew what I would forgive.
What I would ignore.
What I would accept.
She was wrong.
“I’m going to ask you one more time.”
I stepped closer.
“Where is Ewan’s file?”
May you like
For the first time since I met her.
Celeste Vandermark looked afraid.
