Two Can Play (Celeste and Dominic) novel Chapter 103

Chapter 103

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But everything was happening too fast now. The plan was reaching its conclusion sooner than either of us had expected. And I did not know if I could let her go.

I did not know if I had the strength to ask her to stay.

What would I even say to her? The divorce with Seraphine had been finalized, but Celeste was still married to Julian. She had done everything for the sake of revenge. What if she was not ready to have anything further to do with me after the dust settled? What if she had already made peace with walking

away?

The thought sat in my stomach like lead and I could not shake it loose.

I was still lost in that spiral when my phone rang. Sparrow.

“What’s up?” I answered.

“I have good news,” he said. “I want to deliver it in person.”

“Come to my office,” I told him.

Sparrow had driven me to the company earlier that morning. After I had decided to stay longer, I had sent him off to handle other tasks, telling him I would be safe inside the building. No one could get through the layers of security to reach me here. But now he was back, and the tone of his voice told me whatever he had found was important.

When Sparrow walked into my office, he had his phone in his hand and an expression on his face that I could not quite read. He took the chair across from my desk and scrolled through his screen until he found what he was looking for. Then he turned the display toward me.

The footage showed the man who had fired the shot at Seraphine. He was being questioned, his hands bound, his face streaked with sweat and blood. The man had held up at first, insisting he would not talk. But then Sparrow began to cut off the tips of his fingers, starting with the little finger and working his way across. Each time the man screamed, the sound raw and animal, and by the time Sparrow reached the middle finger, the man could not take the pain anymore. He said he would talk.

Sparrow gave him the opportunity, and the man confessed. He said he was sent by the son of Dr. Benjamin Leeds.

I sat back in my chair, the name stirring something cold in my chest. Dr. Benjamin. He had been among the people who stabbed my father in the back, who had worked with my father’s enemies to try to take over the company. And when I had fought to avenge my father, I had taken Benjamin down myself.

But apparently, he had left behind a son. An illegitimate child I had never known about. A grown man now, with connections and resources and a burning desire to avenge his father. He was the one who had come after me. He was the one who had tried to put a bullet in Seraphine.

Sparrow told me he had gathered his men and gone to the address the shooter had provided. By the time they arrived, Benjamin’s son was already in a helicopter, fleeing the country. The armed men he had left

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behind were quickly subdued. Sparrow’s team tried to go after him, but they were too late. He was gone.

But Sparrow assured me that he knew which country Benjamin’s son had escaped to. He had already informed his contacts there. They were looking for him all over. For now, Benjamin’s son was the one on the run, hiding from the same kind of fear he had tried to instill in me.

I let out a long breath I had not realized I was holding. The tightness in my chest loosened, just a fraction

“The danger at your back is gone for now,” Sparrow said. He put his phone away and looked at me. “What should I do with the man who fired the shot? Do you want me to finish him off?”

I smiled. “Use your discretion. Do whatever you want with him. Good job, Sparrow.”

He nodded. “Do you still need me to stay by your side? To keep protecting you?”

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