Chapter 3 - THE BRIDE WHO WALKED AWAY
Celeste Avery did not marry Dominic Russo.
That was the first decision she made after leaving the ballroom.
The second was refusing to let Victor explain the scandal on her behalf.
He called her that night.
She did not answer.
He called her father.
Her father told him to speak to Celeste directly.
He called the family attorney.
Celeste had already retained someone else.
I learned these details later.
At the time, I was sitting beside Samuel's hospital bed, watching his chest rise and fall.
Dominic remained nearby.
He had changed out of his tuxedo.
Leo brought him jeans, a sweater, and a phone charger.
He looked younger without the formal clothes.
More exhausted.
Celeste arrived just after noon.
I was shocked to see her.
So was Dominic.
She stopped in the doorway.
“Is this a bad time?”
I looked at Samuel.
He was asleep.
“No.”
She entered carrying nothing.
No flowers.
No expensive gift.
No dramatic gesture.
Just herself.
“I wanted to know how he's doing.”
“Better.”
“Good.”
She looked at Dominic.
Then at me.
“I also wanted to say something before everyone starts speaking for me.”
Dominic stood.
“Celeste.”
She raised one hand.
“No.”
He stopped.
“I did not know about Maya.”
“I did not know about the boys.”
“And I did not know your father had paid anyone eighty million dollars to disappear.”
I nodded slowly.
“I believe you.”
Her eyes filled.
“Thank you.”
Dominic looked sick.
“I should have told you more about my first marriage.”
“Yes.”
Celeste's answer was immediate.
“You should have.”
He lowered his head.
She continued.
“You told me Maya left for money.”
“That you had tried to make the marriage work.”
“That she signed papers and disappeared.”
“Some of that may have been what you believed.”
“But you never showed me how much you still didn't understand.”
Dominic looked at me.
I looked away.
Celeste turned toward me again.
“I am sorry for what happened to you.”
“You didn't do it.”
“No.”
“But I was willing to marry a man while knowing almost nothing about the woman who came before me.”
She gave a small, bitter smile.
“I thought that was maturity.”
“It was convenience.”
I did not know what to say.
So I said the only honest thing.
“You don't owe me an apology for falling in love with him.”
She nodded.
Then looked at Dominic.
“I don't want to marry you.”
The room went still.
Dominic closed his eyes.
“I understand.”
“Not because of the children.”
“Not because Maya came to the wedding.”
“But because when your father stood up, you looked at him before you looked at me.”
That struck him.
Celeste continued.
“I have spent a year negotiating with Victor Russo for permission to have a life with you.”
“I didn't realize I was negotiating.”
“Not until yesterday.”
She removed her engagement ring.
Placed it on the windowsill.
Then stopped.
“No.”
She picked it up again.
“This belongs in an attorney's office, not beside a sick child.”
And she left with it.
I respected her for that.
She did not need a beautiful exit.
She needed a real one.
---
The next morning, my lawyer arrived.
Her name was Claire Sutton.
I had hired her after the hospital contacted its legal-support office on my behalf.
She was independent of the Russo family.
That was nonnegotiable.
Claire reviewed the records surrounding my separation from Dominic.
Then she found something troubling.
The divorce had been finalized through a process in which I had supposedly acknowledged receiving the papers and waived certain rights.
The signature on the acknowledgment looked like mine.
It was not.
The address listed for me was an apartment I had never rented.
And the attorney identified as having communicated with me had never represented me.
Claire looked at Dominic.
“Who arranged this?”
He stared at the document.
“My father's legal office.”
“Did you personally speak to Maya before signing?”
“No.”
“Did you know where she lived?”
“No.”
“Did you attempt to contact her directly?”
Dominic hesitated.
That hesitation hurt worse than a lie.
“I tried at first.”
“How?”
“I called the number she used before leaving.”
It had been disconnected after Victor warned me the family could trace it.
“I sent one message through my father.”
“One.”
Dominic looked down.
“He told me she didn't want contact.”
I stared at him.
“Did you believe that?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
His voice became rough.
“Because I was angry.”
Silence.
He continued.
“Victor showed me documents about the money.”
“He said you had accepted eighty million dollars to leave.”
“I thought you had chosen it.”
I looked at Samuel.
Then back at him.
“And after you believed it, you never checked again.”
“No.”
That was his failure.
Victor had lied.
But Dominic had accepted the lie because it explained my disappearance in a way that allowed him to remain angry.
Claire closed the folder.
“We will need a court to review the validity of these documents and the divorce judgment.”
“And until that is resolved,” I said, “our relationship is legally complicated.”
Dominic looked at me.
“Do you want a divorce?”
I stared.
Three years of silence.
Three sons.
A hospital room.
A wedding that had never happened.
And he wanted me to answer that now.
“I want Samuel to get well.”
He nodded.
“For everything else, you can wait.”
May you like
For once, he did.
---
