Celeste sat back in self-loathing.
It had been an hour since she left Landon and Nana upstairs. Her heels clicked aimlessly across cold marble as she wandered the Cross estate like a ghost in someone else's life.
She drifted from one conversation to another, nodding and smiling without hearing a single word. The rich talk about anything but how they got rich.
The wine in her hand had long gone warm, and her makeup had started to crack under the weight of her thoughts. She felt pressured.
A part of her wanted to be selfish and not care about Nana's health. To tell her the truth, and walk out of the Cross life entirely. However, another part of her wanted to stay.
She hated this. She hated herself for even thinking it was ever real. Landon was right. She was just a bet.
She had been a dare passed between bored rich boys in fancy suits. A girl from the wrong background, the wrong bloodline, with nothing but her stubborn dignity and misplaced hope.
What made her think someone like him would choose her? When he had options. He had women born into wealth, educated in Europe, polished by legacy, and not survival. He had women who didn't flinch when handed pearls to pick from.
Her throat tightened.
She had been cautious at first. She knew better than to trust a man with a smile like his. But when he started acting distant, almost resistant, she mistook it for depth.
She mistook his manipulations for emotions, for real love. What a joke!
She laughed under her breath bitterly, pushing herself off the ornate loveseat near the fireplace. All around her, glasses clinked and laughter rang out. A woman in a sapphire gown leaned into her husband's ear. Someone whispered about a new merger. Another talked about a holiday in Paris.
Celeste had never felt smaller.
"Enjoying the party?" a voice asked behind her.
She turned, startled. A young man stood near the archway, holding a glass of something amber. His dark hair was tousled, and there was a lazy charm in his eyes, the kind that said he didn't take these people too seriously either.
Celeste blinked. "Sorry, do I know you?"
He smiled crookedly. "Nope. But I know you." He didn't wait for her to speak. He glanced over his shoulder before stepping closer. "You're Celeste. The one Landon was supposed to make fall in love with him. And then ditch." there was a mild smile in his voice.
Her blood turned cold. "Excuse me?"
He sipped his drink and shrugged. "It was a game. Years ago. A stupid one, honestly. I told him it was sick. But Landon doesn't like losing bets, especially not when Dominic's involved."
Her breath caught. "Dominic?" Wait, how many people knew she was a bet and still allowed her to love him blindly?
He looked at her carefully. "You didn't know Dominic was the muse behind this?"
Celeste felt her knees wobble. She grabbed the edge of the table beside her to steady herself. The man frowned, guilt flashing briefly in his expression.
"I thought you knew. I mean, it started with Landon wanting to prove he could get you before Dominic did. Said Dominic had his eyes on you from the start, and that it wouldn't matter because you'd always choose the 'safe' option. With Dominic world, Landon was the safe option. Also, you managed a scholarship into our college." He looked genuinely uncomfortable now. "But…you stayed, so I figured maybe it became something else."
Celeste didn't answer.
Dominic? Wanted her first?
She remembered the night at his place. The kiss. The restraint. His silence at the table. The storm in his voice when he asked why she came here with Landon. All of it…
She had thought she was using Dominic to get revenge on Landon. But what if the joke had been on her from the very beginning?
What if both of them had played her?
The young man cleared his throat. "Anyway…I shouldn't have said anything. I just thought you deserved to know." He walked off before she could stop him.
Celeste stood there, rooted to the spot, staring into nothing.
The twist twisted her tighter.
Dominic had known. Maybe not everything. Maybe not from the beginning. But Landon had bet against him. Which meant—
Her jaw clenched. Her heart felt like it was breaking in layers. This wasn't just about betrayal. They humuliated her. A slow, public unraveling in front of the same people who called her 'good enough' only when they wanted her to behave.
She blinked back hot tears. She refused to cry here, in the same room with the sharks who cowardly hid behind sheep clothing.
She quickly walked quickly past the hall, and rushed down the side corridor that led outside. She pushed through the back doors into the garden, and her heels sinking into the grass as she went further until the lights from the house faded behind her.
She collapsed on the nearest bench and finally let herself cry.
"Do you smoke?" A bored voice broke her out of her breakdown.
Celeste clenched her jaw in recognition. She raised her mascara stained face and stared dead into his eyes. "If you are involved in this mess… if you really knew from the beginning and still kissed me like I mattered, then you are just as cruel."
Dominic chuckled. He came around and made space for himself on the bench. He offered her a stick of cigarettes again, "Want one?"
Celeste furiously slapped his hand away. "Did you know about the bet?"
Dominic didn't flinch.
He sat there, with his cigarette dangling between his fingers. His jaw clenched slightly, but otherwise, his face remained infuriatingly unreadable.
"Did you?" she pushed again, her voice cracking this time. "Tell me, Dominic. Did you know I was a damn bet?"
He finally looked at her.
"No," he said, calm and certain. "Not in the beginning."
Her breath caught, but her expression stayed hard. "But you knew."
He nodded once. "Eventually."
Celeste stared at him like she no longer recognized him. "And you still kissed me that night?"
Dominic's voice dipped low. "Because by the time I knew, it wasn't a joke to me anymore. And it wasn't mu damn business," he took in a slow drag and let it out.
Celeste laughed harshly. "How convenient."
He didn't argue.
She wiped her face roughly, smearing more mascara across her cheek. "You let me walk into that dinner. You let me sit there like a fool across from you while you acted like I didn't exist. Like nothing had happened between us."
"You came on his arm." He took in another drag and looked ahead.
She turned sharply. "Because I was lied to! I was manipulated. What was I supposed to do, Dominic? Guess what kind of twisted little game I was dragged into?"
"You got involved with him. You should be speaking to him right now," he murmured nonchalantly.