Chapter 3 - Shadows of the Past
Within minutes, the glittering Philadelphia estate transformed from a lavish engagement celebration into a tightly sealed courtroom of family reckoning. The twenty-eight high-society guests were escorted to the east parlor under heavy guard, forbidden from using their phones. Left in the main dining room were only Marco, Helen, Celeste—who was now weeping openly in a velvet armchair—and Olivia, who stayed because Marco gestured for her to remain.
"You're going to talk now, Celeste," Marco said, pulling up a chair directly in front of her. The charm, the warmth, the man she thought she was going to marry tomorrow—all of it was gone. In his place sat the ruthless head of the Bellini family. "Start with the night my father died. And leave nothing out."
Celeste realized she had nowhere to run. Her defense crumbled piece by piece as she confessed that her relationship with Daniel hadn't been a random romance years ago; it had been an orchestrated infiltration. She had been sent by a rival faction to embed herself in the Bellini inner circle. But things had gotten complicated when she fell into a trap of her own making, realizing that Marco held the true power and wealth. To secure her position, she had framed Daniel for corporate embezzlement, threatening him with destruction if he didn't take the fall.
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"And the night your father died?" Celeste whispered, her voice shaking violently. "I... I was there, Marco. I saw who gave the order. But it wasn't Daniel. It was your father's inner council—the men you still trust today."
Olivia watched from the corner, her mind racing. She thought of her own struggling father back home, fighting just to keep his repair shop open against corporate pressure. She realized that corruption wasn't just a abstract concept in the Bellini world; it was a web that tangled everyone, rich and poor alike.
