Two Can Play (Celeste and Dominic) novel Chapter 419

"How did it go with Imelda's father?"

A slow smile spread across his face, the kind of smile a man wears when he has just won a war without firing a shot. "Imelda will no longer be a name that inconveniences either of us. Not after tomorrow morning."

"What did you do?"

"I apologized to her father." He set down his fork. "I took the blame. I told him I should have been clearer with my grandmother from the beginning, that I let the situation fester until his daughter was dragged across the world on a promise that was never mine to make. And then I told him the truth. That even if I married Imelda, she would never be happy, because she would never have my love. I would give her my name, my money, my protection, everything a woman could ask for, except the one thing that matters, and I would be doing her a great cruelty to pretend otherwise."

I nodded slowly. "And he accepted that?"

"He did." Dominic's eyes gleamed. "Because I did not leave it at words. I offered him a deal as compensation. A business acquisition I had been working on for weeks, worth billions. I signed it over to him on the spot, and the man was so happy he almost cried, Celeste. He promised to come take his daughter away from my grandmother first thing tomorrow morning. The Imelda chapter is closed."

My stomach dropped. "Dominic. You gave him something worth billions?"

"It was worth it."

"No." I set my hands flat on the counter. "No, that is too much. You worked hard for weeks to acquire that deal, and you just handed it over?"

I smiled at him, and the guilt did not go away. It sat there under the happiness, a small dark stone I would carry for a while. But I let him pull me into his arms, and I let myself believe that everything was finally, truly going to be alright.

The next morning, Dominic dropped me off at Helix and left with a kiss and a promise to call. Later, after lunch with Dominic, I returned to Helix, stood at the balcony of my office with my phone in my hand, waiting for news from Pat. I had sent Kingsley the address before sunrise.

I could not call Pat and ask how the party was going, because Pat did not know I was the one who had revealed everything to Kingsley. If she found out before the man had a chance to prove himself, she would only feel betrayed, and I could not risk that. So I waited to hear from her.

It was past noon when I spotted the familiar shape pulling through the gate, and excitement surged through me so fast I nearly dropped my phone. I eventually went down and across the lobby and out through the glass doors, the words already forming in my mouth. 'Pat, tell me everything and leave nothing out.'