Chapter 8 - the half-sister
The iron door of the lower holding cell beneath the Moretti mansion clicked open.
Victor walked into the dim stone room. Celeste sat on a simple wooden bench, her ivory engagement gown ruined and dirty, her bruised cheek dark against her fair skin. She looked up at Victor with a cold, mocking smile.
"Come to finish what you started at the party, Victor?" Celeste asked smoothly.
Victor set a thick black folder on the metal table between them. "I checked the birth records from Chicago, Celeste. I know who you really are."
Celeste’s mocking smile faded slightly.
"You're not a socialite from Miami," Victor said, stepping closer. "You're Elena's younger half-sister. You changed your name eight years ago after the hospital fire."
Celeste let out a bitter, raspy laugh. "Took you long enough to figure it out, Don Moretti."
"Why?" Victor asked, his voice steady. "Why seduce me? Why wear her ring?"
"Because Elena took everything from my mother!" Celeste spat, standing up, her eyes blazing with hatred. "Your precious late wife stole my family's legacy thirty years ago! She used your father's power to erase us from the syndicate charter!"
"Elena didn't steal anything," Victor said coldly.
"She stole the Bloodline Charter!" Celeste screamed, pressing her hands against the cold table. "She hid it in your private harbor warehouse ten years ago! I let you put that ring on my finger so I could get the biometric key to open that vault!"
Victor reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out an encrypted audio recorder he had recovered from Sofia's room. He hit play.
Celeste’s recorded voice echoed in the small cell: "Once Victor signs the engagement agreement tonight, the charter passes to me, and we execute phase two. Adrian dies, and Chicago takes New York."
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Celeste froze, her face turning ghost white as she realized her entire plot with Adrian Cross had been recorded.
"Phase two starts tonight, Celeste," Victor whispered. "And you're going to watch me crush it."
