Two Can Play (Celeste and Dominic) novel Chapter 316

Chapter 316

I scoffed. “It is quite unfortunate the feeling is not mutual. I am pretty sure Seraphine can live without you. She would not even bat an eyelid if you died. She would probably step over your corpse on her way to the next man who could offer her something she wanted.”

“Stop trying to turn me against her.” The edge in his voice curdled into anger, his knuckles white where he gripped my desk. “Nothing will change how I feel about her. Celeste, if you have ever considered me your brother, return my Seraphine to me.”

I raised my eyebrows, letting a small, sardonic smile play at the corner of my mouth. “Oh. Your Seraphine. Tell me, Felix, have you perhaps tried calling her?”

“You know her number will not be reachable.” He practically spat the words. “Stop playing games and return Seraphine to me.”

“Call her. Then we will establish whether the problem is her phone or you.”

He glared at me with a hatred that could only come from someone who knew, somewhere deep in the part of his brain that was not drowning in infatuation, that he was making a catastrophic fool of himself. But he pulled out his phone anyway, his thumb jabbing at the screen, and put it on speaker.

The beeps that followed were loud enough for me to hear from across the desk.

I smiled. “It is simple, Felix. It is not that her line will not go through. It is that she has blocked you. You have likely already served your purpose and now that she is done with you, she has blocked your number. There is nothing more efficient than a woman who knows exactly when a man has outlived his usefulness.” I let that land, then added with a soft chuckle, “She just really finds you annoying.”

“Stop lying about Seraphine!” His palms came down on my desk again, harder, and the framed photograph of my research team that Pat had given me for my birthday toppled over, the glass cracking against the wood.

I did not look at the fallen frame. Instead, I beckoned to Elise, who had returned with the security men. When she stepped forward, I turned back to Felix. “Call out Seraphine’s number for her. Let her dial it and let us find out if she is truly unreachable or if it is just you she has chosen to excise from her life.”

Felix rattled off the number through gritted teeth. Elise typed it into her phone.

The call connected. I heard the ringing tone through the phone’s speaker. It rang six times, then went to voicemail, Seraphine’s honeyed voice inviting the caller to leave a message.

I turned to one of the security men. “You. Try the same number.”

He pulled out his phone and dialed. Same result. Ringing, ringing, voicemail. Felix’s face cycled through angry red to bewildered pale, looking almost like seasickness.

He grabbed his phone and redialed, his movements jerky. The beeps were still loud enough for everyone to hear.

Shock rippled across his features, his mouth falling open, his eyes darting from his phone to my face and back as though the device itself had betrayed him.

I shrugged. “I told you. She could not care less if you died. That is why she blocked you. You are a tool she has finished using, Felix, and Seraphine does not keep tools once they have served their purpose.”

“Enough!” His voice cracked on the word. “This is all your plan. Since you kidnapped Seraphine, of course you have her phone. You must have blocked my number. If she were truly fine, why did she not answer any of the calls? Explain that to me, Celeste.”

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I studied my brother, at the sweat beading on his forehead and the wild desperation in his eyes, and I made a decision. One last time. I would try to help him see the truth one last time, not because he deserved it but because my mother did not deserve to lose her son to a woman who would chew him up and spit him out. After this, I was done.

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