Two Can Play (Celeste and Dominic) novel Chapter 107

Chapter 107

CELESTE

I had to hand it to Seraphine.

Watching her unravel after that phone call, the way her voice had climbed and cracked and gone almost hysterical in the background, anyone who did not know better would have thought she was genuinely, desperately in love with her husband. The kind of woman who had been wronged and was fighting to hold her marriage together.

It was impressive, really. The performance of it.

But if Seraphine was operating under the impression that a man denying you publicly, and before people considered your friends, meant anything other than he was completely done with you, then she was living in a fool’s paradise that I did not have the heart to dismantle for her.

Not yet, anyway.

I could not keep the straight face for much longer. The moment Seraphine walked out, the awkward silence she left behind pressing against the room, I let out a slow breath and turned toward the window.

Pat, predictably, started immediately.

“Celeste.” She came to stand beside me, her voice low and careful in the way it got when she was trying to work something out. “What was that about? Why would the CEO of Veil Holdings deny being married to Seraphine? He funded our entire laboratory. He gave us money without blinking. Why would he do that if he was not in good terms with his wife?”

I shrugged and kept my voice light. “I have no idea, Pat. That is between them. I am not in the business of getting involved in other people’s marriages.”

“But you were the one who made the call for her. You must know something.”

“I made a call because she asked me to. That is all. Whatever is going on between Dominic Ford and Seraphine is their business, not ours.

Do not think too much about it, Pat. When Seraphine is ready to talk about whatever is going on, she will come to her two best friends. You know how she is. For now, let us focus on the lab. This phase is fragile and extremely important. We cannot afford to be distracted.”

Pat considered that for a moment. Then she nodded, more slowly than I would have liked. “You are right. Actually.” Her expression shifted, the worry giving way to something brighter. “Moving on to urgent Helix business, there is someone I want you to meet.”

She picked up her phone and dialed without explanation.

“Dr. Duke” she said when someone answered. “Come to the room now.”

I furrowed my brows. “Who is Duke?”

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“You will see,” she said, smiling to herself. I watched her with curiosity because Pat was the type who needed to see results before she formed an opinion. So for her to be this eager, this Duke person must have made an impression.

A knock came at the door. Two sharp raps.

Then the door opened and a man walked in.

I stared.

I was not proud of it, but I stared for a full second longer than was appropriate for a professional introduction. He was tall, with broad shoulders that filled his shirt without straining it, brown hair, blue eyes that were unusual enough to be striking, and a face that was handsome in the clean, uncomplicated way that did not require a second look to confirm.

He required a second look anyway.

Something fluttered in my chest and I did not immediately know what to do with it, which was embarrassing. I was meeting this man for the first time. There was no reason for my chest to be doing

anything.

When he moved closer, though, something clicked and I almost laughed out loud. Those long strides, that steady posture, the way he held his shoulders. It was not identical but it was close enough that my brain made the connection without my permission.

He walked like Dominic.

The same long legs. The same certainty.

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