Two Can Play (Celeste and Dominic) novel Chapter 209

Chapter 209

DOMINIC

After I left Celeste, I climbed into the back of my car and let my driver pull us out into traffic, heading toward the office, and for the first time in longer than I could remember, I felt something close to peace settle over me. I turned out that when a man finally found the one, his heart simply knew it, no hesitation, no second-guessing, just a bone-deep certainty that made everything else in the world fall into its proper place. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. I wanted to protect her from anything and everything that dared come near her.

I had never felt anything like this before. Not once, not with Seraphine, not with anyone. This was the kind of happiness that settled into your bones and made itself at home, the kind that made you think about white dresses and small hands and the sound of children’s laughter bouncing off walls you had built for the people you loved.

I let myself imagine it. A little girl with Celeste’s eyes and Celeste’s smile, her hair in pigtails as she ran through the penthouse, her voice bright when she called my name. A boy, stubborn like me and kind like her, learning to ride a bike while I stood behind him, my hands ready to catch him if he fell. The thought was so vivid my chest tightened, a grin spreading across my face before I could stop it. If only I had married Celeste first. If only I had not wasted those years with Seraphine. We might already have a family by now.

Then the smile faded.

I thought of the mark on Celeste’s face. A handprint, unmistakable even from across the room, the kind of mark that didn’t come from an accident. She had lied to me about it. Brushed it off like it was nothing. Which meant she was protecting someone, and the only question that mattered was who.

I pulled out my phone and called her bodyguards.

“Where is Celeste right now?” I asked the moment the call connected.

“At Helix, sir,” came the reply. “She’s inside working.”

Good. She was safe. “I need both of you at my office. Now.”

They arrived within the hour, and I had them shown straight into my office, gesturing for them to sit across from my desk. 1 hadn’t questioned their competence before today. They were among the best men I had, trained for exactly this kind of work, and I had never once had cause to doubt them. But the mark on Celeste’s face wouldn’t leave me alone, and I needed to know exactly what had happened while I hadn’t been watching.

“Tell me everything,” I said. “Every single detail, starting from the moment. I put you on her.”

They walked me through it, methodical and thorough, and for the first few minutes I found myself almost smiling, genuinely impressed by how closely they’d tracked her movements, how quickly they’d responded to every shift in her schedule. Then they reached the part about the man who had slapped her, and something in my chest went cold and then immediately hot, rage rising so fast I had to press my palms flat against the desk to keep from standing.

“She told us to stand down,” one of them said. “Said the man was her brother. We backed off because she gave the order directly.

“And there was a woman with him,” the other added. “She stayed off to the side the whole time. Looked pleased when he went

after her.”

Pleased. I turned that word over in my mind, already narrowing down the list of people cruel enough, desperate enough, to stand back and enjoy watching Celeste get hurt. There was only one name that fit.

An hour. She hadn’t told me she was leaving, and an hour was more than enough time for something to go wrong.

“Go,” I said, already on my feet. “Both of you, now. Find her and keep her safe.”

They were out the door before I finished the sentence, and I dialed Sparrow the moment they were gone. He picked up on the second ring, and we exchanged the usual pleasantries before I cut straight to it.

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