Chapter 11 - THE MISTRESS WHO LOST EVERYTHING
Celeste Pryor watched the scandal unfold from her apartment.
At first, she believed Ethan would come back.
He would apologize.
Explain.
Tell her the investigation was temporary.
Then they would finally be together.
But Ethan stopped calling.
His family distanced themselves.
The consulting company that employed Celeste terminated her contract after discovering she had submitted misleading expense claims.
Her social circle disappeared.
The people who once invited her to exclusive parties stopped answering messages.
One evening, she called Maren.
I answered.
“Hello?”
A pause.
Then Celeste's voice.
“Maren.”
I went still.
“What do you want?”
She swallowed.
“I wanted to apologize.”
I stared at the wall.
For a moment, I remembered the photographs.
The sea bass.
The red nails.
The way she smiled while humiliating me.
I took a breath.
“Why now?”
Celeste began crying.
“Because everything's gone.”
I closed my eyes.
“Celeste.”
She sniffled.
“Yes?”
“Are you apologizing because you understand what you did?”
A pause.
“Or because you lost what you wanted?”
Silence.
Then she whispered, “I don't know.”
I nodded.
“That may be the first honest thing you've said to me.”
She began crying harder.
I continued.
“I hope you learn from this.”
A pause.
“But I can't make you feel better about what happened.”
Celeste swallowed.
“I understand.”
I ended the call.
Then sat quietly.
For the first time, I realized I no longer hated her.
May you like
I simply didn't want her in my life.
And that felt like freedom.
