CHAPTER 9: Celeste Without the Glass

By midnight, Celeste had stopped touching the champagne glass.
It sat on the console table beside the unsigned documents, a small golden witness to a plan that had failed before the ink dried.
The physician examined Charles in the library while Lena waited near the door, listening to the soft voices inside and the controlled fury of attorneys outside.
Mason had been escorted to a sitting room, where he called people who did not answer.
Celeste remained in the foyer because she still could not believe she had lost it there.
In her mind, wealth was architecture. Whoever stood tallest under the chandelier owned the story.
Lena approached her slowly.
Celeste looked up with eyes that had finally emptied of performance.
“You were supposed to stay away,” she said.
Lena nodded once.
“I know.”
“He chose me.”
“He married you,” Lena said. “That is not the same thing as giving you his soul.”
Celeste flinched as if slapped by the quiet.
Lena picked up the unsigned documents and handed them to the attorney.
The paper left Celeste’s reach forever.