Chapter 39
Celeste
I didn’t remember much after the fight. The pack kept me from seeing as much of the carnage as they could. Sterling had swept me up, holding me tight to his chest and soothing me as the rest of the pack handled Elijah and tended to Dante.
Bella had told me earlier about a safehouse close to Roebri that I could use if things got too crazy. I never thought I’d need it, but then again, I never thought my uncle would send a black market pack to end me.
We were at the safehouse now, and Dante was patched up as much as he could be.
My uncle thought he was successful, according to Dante, who had forced Elijah to make a call at gunpoint.
They weren’t sure what they would do with Elijah, but for now he was still bound and kept in a room under tight security.
I contacted Pack Valence, letting them know to extend their vacation an extra few days and not tell anyone they heard from us.
Owen could tell from the seriousness in my voice that something big happened.
I knew that at the very least, we could trust them.
I already ached at having to explain to them about what happened to their guest house - I would owe them big time.
And I was so thankful they weren’t there when everything happened.
I’d never forgive myself if any of them had been caught in the crossfire.
“He’s asking for you.” Vigo’s gentle voice lifted me from my thoughts, and I turned to see him coming toward me.
He was scuffed from the fight, but overall unharmed.
He reached for me, his deep blue eyes soft and concerned as he wrapped me in his arms. I sighed into his chest, so grateful to have him here with me.
It’s not until you risk losing everything, that you realize how precious life is.
No matter what happened in the past, I knew that I wanted them with me going forward.
Vigo nuzzled his scruffy cheek into me. “He’ll be alright.” He said, and I nodded. It was time to talk to Dante.
He’d been recovering in a quiet room in the back of the safehouse, and I opened the door, peeking in.
He was stretched out on the bed, the sheets pulled low around his hips, his bare chest rising and falling as I got a better glimpse of those mesmerizing tattoos.
Even patched up and bruised, he was devastatingly handsome.
His skin was sun-warmed bronze, the bandages a stark white in contrast. His dark hair was mussed from the fight, strands damp with sweat falling into his face, and I caught myself wanting to smooth them back, to run my fingers through the thick, unruly waves.
Even battered and bruised, he looked incredible. He looked like he was mine.
I could still see flashes of him from earlier - the way he’d moved like a storm when the assassins came for us. The way his eyes had burned when he’d looked at me, as if nothing else in the world mattered but keeping me alive.
Even now, his gaze nearly knocked me over when he looked at me. He motioned for me to come closer, picking up on my hesitance as I waited.
“Come here, Celeste.” He patted on the bed, and I sat down gently, not wanting to disturb his healing.
“You can’t hurt me anymore than I already am.
” He said, with a small grin. How I missed seeing that smile.
It was so rare, like I was seeing a secret.
“I have a lot to tell you, and I’m sure you have questions. ”
I nodded, pushing my hair back as I waited.
After learning about Arkala, seeing the photos of the massacre that had been attributed to me without my knowledge, I’d nearly had a breakdown.
The sheer callousness of it, the sociopathic way the people had been hurt, was more than I could bear.
When I looked back on it now, I was surprised that Dante could even be in the same room with me, much less pretend to court me all those months.
He’d believed that I was a monster, and I couldn’t blame him.
Now, he wanted to talk.
I had always imagined that if Dante ever told me the truth about why he hated me so much, that he would do it lethally. He’d use words meant to wound, a final dagger between us.
But tonight, in the safehouse, there were no daggers. Just the quiet noise of the wind outside, and Dante sitting across from me, shoulders bowed like he was carrying something far heavier than his injuries.
“My family,” he started, and the way his voice sounded made my chest feel tight. “I miss them every day. You probably don’t know their names. They weren’t powerful or well known. They were just miners from Arkala. People who had nothing to do with the Eastern Province or board politics.”
I stayed silent, watching the flicker of memories in his eyes.
“I miss my cousin the most. His name was Luca.” His mouth curved faintly.
“We grew up together. He was shorter than me but he could still beat me in a sprint. We’d race from the docks to the old fig tree at the center of town.
Then we would go home, to my house or his, and have dinner with the family. ”
There was something raw in the way he said it, as if each memory hurt him.
“I didn’t get to say goodbye to him,” he continued, quieter now.
My stomach ached with the knowledge of where this was heading.
Dante adjusted himself in the bed and winced, then continued.
“We heard Harringday had a new CEO. I was already in the Eastern Province at that time, but I never thought that anything that drastic would happen. But then he called me back to visit the island. And when I went, I found out about the worker’s rights abuses.
” His eyes, dark and haunted by memory, caught mine.
“The working conditions - I know you likely never knew how bad it was. The safety measures weren’t in place, and the mines collapsed.” He said, and I reached out to grab his hand.
I knew exactly what he was talking about.
“Dante, I know.” I started, and he looked up at me, vulnerable and questioning. “After I found those documents, the ones with my signature… I did some digging.” My voice sounded disconnected as I told him the truth. The truth even I wasn’t aware of.
My family had built Harringday on corruption and suffering.
The days I spent in Pack Valence’s guesthouse before I’d found Sterling, I’d done some research.
I looked into the past, how my great-grandfather had started Harringday and how he grew it into the massive organization it is now.
My family told me the shining, happy version - we’d worked hard and grew through our innovation.
But that wasn’t the only reason we grew.
My great-grandfather, grandfather, and yes, even my own father - they had done some terrible things to stay on top.
They were ruthless, which was the way to be in the Eastern Province if you wanted to succeed.
I always knew this, in the back of my mind.
But I’d discarded it thinking that if I made positive changes, then the past didn’t matter.
But it did.
I loved my family. They loved me too, and left me a legacy that made me incredibly wealthy, and the first female omega CEO in the province. But that didn’t mean they were innocent. My father, despite his love for me, had also done some bad things to continue the Harringday success.
I looked at Dante, my understanding of his position now deeper after I learned about my own family history.
“Dante, I know how my family grew Harringday. I learned more about the hidden history of how it was built.” I started, stammering as I admitted my own family had everything to do with his family’s suffering.
“As much as I didn’t realize how bad my family was, that doesn’t excuse it.
Harringday was, and still is, the cause of so much pain.
” I said, my eyes tearing up at Dante’s expression.
“I can’t tell you how sorry I am. For what my family did.
For my part in it. For not knowing, not researching enough.
Dante, I’m so very sorry.” My voice trembled as I thought back on the photos I’d seen of the carnage at Arkala.
That was Dante’s whole life, his family, and they’d been murdered just to make a point.
Dante swallowed, and I couldn’t help but stare at how his neck moved. It had been so long since we’d been alone, and deep down I’d missed him more than I realized. His fingers brushed over my hand.
“You have no idea how much it means to hear you say that.” He answered, and it looked like the tension finally left his body as he lay on the mattress.
“I know it wasn’t your fault, though. Celeste, you aren’t like that.
You’re good.” He said, his voice barely above a whisper. A tear ran down my cheek.
“It doesn’t excuse all the pain that we caused. I should have known.” I said, mourning the old memories I had of my father. Dante reached up, wiping the tear away.
“Maybe that’s why we found each other, Celeste. Maybe that’s why we are fated. To right the wrongs of the past. I was already going down a dark path. If I never met you, who knows what I would have become.” Dante said, cupping my cheek.
I looked at him, then bit my lip. “I want to know more. Finish the story.” I replied. He looked hesitant.
“It’s not good.” Dante warned.
“I want to hear it.” I said. I needed to hear it.
He looked at me, then relented. “My cousin told me all the things going on with Harringday. How they refused to help, how the townspeople had to go to the mines and dig people out themselves. How the conditions were so bad, that the people decided to revolt.” His words tore at my heart.
I knew things were bad in Arkala, but not to this extent.
It was one of the first things I wanted to fix when I was interim CEO.
I thought if I went and cemented fair worker rights, then everything would be solved. I was so naive.