Two Can Play (Celeste and Dominic) novel Chapter 232

Chapter 232

“Start from the beginning, said. “Tell me everything.”

She took a shaky breath and therrit all came out. Seraphine’s text. The parking lot. The demand to meet. Kingsley’s betrayal. The video of her that Seraphine had. The blackmail. The slaps she had to give herself, ten of them, kneeling on the concrete while Seraphine watched.

By the time she finished, my jaw was clenched so tight could feel the ache spreading into my temples.

“She threatened to release a sex video of you and Kingsley?”

Pat nodded, fresh tears spilling down her cheeks. “She said she had it. She said Kingsley recorded it for her. She said he was working for her the whole time and that is why he resigned, because his job was done.”

“And you believed her?”

“She knew details about us, Celeste. Things no one else knew. The hotel we went to. The time…. How would she know all of that if Kingsley had not told her?”

I leaned back against the couch, my mind turning the problem over like a Rubik’s cube. “Did you actually see the video? Did she show it to you?”

Pat’s mouth opened and closed. “No. She did not. But, she wouldn’t lie about something like that.”

“Seraphine came to my house and slept with my husband while we were still best friends. Do you think lying about a video would cost her a single night of sleep?”

“She would not lie about something like that.”

“She would lie about anything if it got her what she wanted. You said it yourself. She has always resented the fact that you were close to me. What if she does not have a video at all? What if she was just using the threat of one to control you?”

Pat shook her head, her hands trembling in her lap. “But Kingsley warned me about her. He said, ‘Watch your back. Seraphine is out to get you.’ And then he disappeared. Why would he warn me if he was not working for her? Why would he tell me to watch my back if he was not in her circle?”

“Stay here,” I said. “I will be back.”

I walked out of her office and through the corridors of Helix, past the whispering employees and the curious stares, past the lab technicians who pretended to be busy when I caught their eyes. I knew what they were thinking. I knew they believed I had released the videos myself, that I had finally snapped and decided to burn Seraphine’s reputation to the ground. Let them think

+15 Bonus

it If it came down to protecting Pat from legal trouble, I would stand up in front of a judge and say I did it myself.

Outside the building, I putted out my phone and scrolled through my contacts until I found the name I was looking for. A man I had not spoken to in months, a hacker with a taste for expensive whiskey and a moral code that bent depending on who was paying. He had helped me dig up Elizabeth’s background when I first started suspecting Julian’s mother was not so simple. He had delivered everything I needed within twenty-four hours.

+15 Bonus