Two Can Play (Celeste and Dominic) novel Chapter 237

Chapter 237

CELESTE

Sparrow’s smile stretched wider, a slow, knowing curve that made me feel like I had walked into a room and missed half the conversation. He raised his glass in my direction, the amber liquid catching the low light, and I realized he was enjoying my confusion a little too much.

“Sister-in-law,” he repeated, letting the word hang in the air between us like smoke. “You will understand eventually.”

1 opened my mouth to press further, to demand the explanation I felt I deserved, but something in his expression told me I would not get it tonight. He had that look, the look of a man who had said exactly what he wanted to say and would not be moved no matter how many questions I threw at him.

“Fine,” I said, making my voice stay level. “Keep your secrets, Sparrow. I have had enough surprises for one day.”

I turned to Kingsley, who was watching the exchange with the dazed expression of a man who had been dragged through too many emotional wringers in a single evening to process another plot twist. “If anything goes wrong or if something comes up, call me.”

He nodded, his throat moving as he swallowed. “I will.”

I left the bar without looking back. The door swung shut behind me and the evening air hit my face, cool and sharp, carrying the smell of exhaust fumes. I stood there for a moment, rolling my shoulders to release the tension that had settled there.

My head was pounding. A dull, persistent throb that had taken up residence behind my eyes and showed no signs of leaving. I needed a shower. I needed a nap. I needed the day to be over so I could wake up tomorrow and pretend the last twelve hours had not happened.

I was halfway to my car when I heard the footsteps.

A lot of footsteps. A stampede of them, growing louder, closer, accompanied by the unmistakable click of camera shutters and the overlapping chaos of voices calling my name.

“Celeste! Celeste, over here!”

“Mrs. Fisher, how do you feel about your upcoming divorce?”

“Is your relationship with Dominic Ford a recent development or did it start before you separated from your husband?”

I froze. My feet stopped moving. My brain stopped processing. I stood there in the middle of the sidewalk, surrounded by a wall of journalists that had materialized from nowhere, their cameras flashing, their voices overlapping, their questions hitting me from every direction like a physical force.

“Mr. Ford! Mr. Ford, is it true you and Celeste Fisher are in a relationship?”

“Mr. Ford, how long has this been going on?”

He did not answer them. He did not even look at them. He walked straight up to me, and before I could process what was happening, he pulled me into his arms and hugged me so tightly I could feel the steady thrum of his heartbeat against my chest.

The voices stopped.

Not completely. I could still hear them, muffled and distant, like a television playing in another room. But they had lost their edge, their urgency, replaced by the frantic clicking of camera shutters capturing every angle of this moment, every second of Dominic Ford holding me in the middle of a crowd of journalists like I was the only person in the world who mattered.

1